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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §41.6.5.pr

Interruption of Usucaption by Void Manumission of a Slave

Passage 6825 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

In response to a query about whether an invalid manumission by a person usucapting a slave "as a gift" stops the usucapion, the jurist replies that such an act constitutes abandonment of possession, thereby interrupting the usucapion.

[SCAEUOLA libro quinto responsorum. ] §41.6.5.prQui pro donato coeperat usucapere, manumittendo nihil egit, quia nec dominium nanctus fuerit: quaesitum est, an usucapere desierit.
[SCAEVOLA, from his fifth book of Opinions.] A person who had begun to usucapt as a gift achieved nothing by manumitting [the slave], because he had not yet acquired ownership; the question was raised whether he ceased to usucapt.
respondi eum de quo quaeritur omisisse uideri possessionem et ideo usucapionem interruptam.
I replied that the person in question seems to have abandoned possession, and therefore the usucapion was interrupted.

Notes

  1. §41.6.5.prpro donato — "As a gift" or "on the basis of a gift". This is one of the just titles (iustus titulus) required for usucapion.
  2. §41.6.5.prmanumittendo nihil egit — The ablative gerund manumittendo expresses means: "by manumitting [the slave] he achieved nothing." Since a person currently usucapting is not yet the full legal owner (dominus), any attempt to perform a civil law manumission is legally ineffective.
  3. §41.6.5.promisisse uideri possessionem — The infinitive omisisse depends on uideri ("to seem to have abandoned"). The subject accusative is eum. The paradox is that the attempt to free the slave (which implies letting go) is interpreted as a factual abandonment of possession (possessio), which consequently interrupts the usucapion.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §41.6.5.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:41.6.5.pr

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