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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §42.2.5.pr

Confession of Debt of a Deceased Slave and Liability

Passage 6921 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Ulpian states that a person who confesses that he owes a specific slave (Stichus) must be condemned, regardless of whether the slave was already dead at the time or died after the joinder of issue.

[ULPIANUS libro uicensimo septimo ad edictum. ] §42.2.5.prQui Stichum debere se confessus est, siue mortuus iam Stichus erat siue post litis contestationem decesserit, condemnandus est.
[ULPIAN, in the twenty-seventh book on the Edict.] He who has confessed that he owes Stichus, whether Stichus was already dead or died after the joinder of issue, must be condemned.

Notes

  1. §42.2.5.prStichum debere se — This is an accusative with infinitive (AcI) construction introduced by `confessus est` ("has confessed"). The pronoun `se` is the subject accusative of the infinitive `debere` (referring to the declarant), and `Stichum` (a typical slave name used as a placeholder) is its direct object. The verb `debere` ("to owe") indicates a legal obligation to deliver a specific object.
  2. §42.2.5.prlitis contestationem — This refers to the *litis contestatio* (joinder of issue) in Roman civil procedure, which marks the formal establishment of the issue and the transition of the case from the magistrate (*in iure*) to the judge (*apud iudicem*). Even if the slave died after this critical point, the defendant's liability to be condemned based on the confession remains unaffected.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §42.2.5.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:42.2.5.pr

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