Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §46.3.77.pr

Primordial Nature of Freedman Contracts for Services

Passage 7732 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Explains that for a freedman, the contract for services is the oldest contract he can enter into, and without it, freedom itself would not have been granted to him.

[IDEM libro septimo pandectarum. ] §46.3.77.prIn liberto antiquior contractus operarum esse non potest, sine quo libertas ei data non esset.
[THE SAME, in his seventh book of the Pandects.]\n\nIn the case of a freedman, there cannot be an older contract than that for services, without which freedom would not have been granted to him.

Notes

  1. §46.3.77.prantiquior — Comparative adjective (masculine nominative singular, agreeing with contractus). Although the object of comparison is not explicitly stated, it denotes an absolute comparison with any other contracts a freedman could make, meaning "no contract older than this can exist." Since a slave cannot be a party to a contract, the agreement for services made upon or for manumission is his very first contract as a free person.
  2. §46.3.77.prsine quo — The antecedent of the relative pronoun quo (ablative) is contractus. Combined with the preposition sine, it functions as a conditional clause (equivalent to nisi is contractus fuisset), working in tandem with data non esset (subjunctive pluperfect) in the main clause to express a past contrary-to-fact condition.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §46.3.77.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:46.3.77.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.