Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §43.29.2.pr

Why Unlawful Detention of a Free Person Equates to Slavery

Passage 7177 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Explains that detaining a free person is virtually no different from slavery because they are deprived of the opportunity to depart.

[UENULEIUS libro quarto interdictorum. ] §43.29.2.pr(nihil enim multum a specie seruientium differunt, quibus facultas non datur recedendi):
[VENULEIUS, On Interdicts, book four.] (for they, to whom the power of departing is not given, differ very little from the appearance of slaves):

Notes

  1. §43.29.2.prdifferunt — The subject of the verb is not explicitly stated but refers to the "free men" (homines liberi) mentioned in the previous section (43.29.1.1) who are being detained. This parenthetical statement explains why unlawful detention of a free person is practically equivalent to slavery.
  2. §43.29.2.prquibus — Relative pronoun in the dative plural. While it could grammatically refer to the immediate antecedent seruientium (slaves), contextually it refers to the implied subject of the main clause (the detained free persons). The translation treats the subject as the antecedent because being deprived of the freedom to depart (facultas non datur recedendi) is precisely what makes them indistinguishable from slaves.
  3. §43.29.2.prrecedendi — Gerund in the genitive case of the intransitive verb recedere (to depart, withdraw), functioning as an objective genitive modifying the noun facultas (power, opportunity).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §43.29.2.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:43.29.2.pr

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.