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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §41.2.24.pr

Acquisition of Possession through Slave's Peculium or Wrong

Passage 6722 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The text explains that a master does not acquire possession of what a slave takes by force or through unlawful acts without the master's knowledge, whereas the master does acquire possession of what the slave holds physically as peculium based on a just cause.

[IDEM libro quarto decimo epistularum. ] §41.2.24.prQuod seruus tuus ignorante te ui possidet, id tu non possides, quoniam is, qui in tua potestate est, ignoranti tibi non corporalem possessionem, sed iustam potest adquirere: sicut id, quod ex peculio ad eum peruenerit, possidet.
[THE SAME, in the fourteenth book of his Letters.] What your slave possesses by force without your knowledge, you do not possess, because he who is in your power can acquire for you, while you are ignorant, not physical possession, but rightful possession; just as he [the master] possesses that which has come to him [the slave] from his peculium.
nam tum per seruum dominus quoque possidere dicitur, summa scilicet cum ratione, quia, quod ex iusta causa corporaliter a seruo tenetur, id in peculio serui est et peculium, quod seruus ciuiliter quidem possidere non posset, sed naturaliter tenet, dominus creditur possidere.
For in that case the master also is said to possess through the slave, and indeed with the greatest reason, because what is physically held by the slave on a just cause is in the slave's peculium, and the master is deemed to possess the peculium which the slave indeed could not possess civilly, but holds physically.
quod uero ex maleficiis adprehenditur, id ad domini possessionem ideo non pertinet, quia nec peculii causam adprehendit.
But what is acquired from unlawful acts does not belong to the master's possession for this reason, because it does not even acquire the cause of a peculium.

Notes

  1. §41.2.24.prignoranti tibi — The participle `ignoranti` is in the dative case, agreeing with `tibi` (dative of reference/advantage). Although it conveys a similar meaning ('without your knowledge') to the ablative absolute `ignorante te` at the beginning of the sentence, here it is syntactically integrated as the dative object of the infinitive `adquirere` ('can acquire for you who are ignorant').
  2. §41.2.24.prpossidet — The subject of `possidet` in the clause `sicut id, quod...` is the master (`dominus`) rather than the slave, as implied by the context. Since a slave lacks the capacity to possess under civil law (`ciuiliter... possidere non posset`), it is the master who legally acquires possession in respect of the peculium.
  3. §41.2.24.prnec peculii causam — Here `nec` has the force of 'not even' or 'also not'. `causam` refers to the 'legal basis' or 'character'. This indicates that what is acquired through unlawful acts (`maleficiis`) does not constitute a rightful legal basis (`causa`) for a peculium.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §41.2.24.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:41.2.24.pr

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