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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §46.3.92.pr-46.3.92.1

Discharge via Manumission or Delivery of Another's Slave

Passage 7747 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

From the letters of Pomponius, discussing the release from liability for the duty to deliver another's slave if the slave is manumitted before default (analogous to death), and the discharge of the debtor who, having become the heir of the slave's owner, delivers the slave as conditionally free.

[POMPONIUS libro nono epistularum. ] §46.3.92.prSi mihi alienum seruum dari promiseris aut testamento dare iussus fueris isque seruus, antequam per te staret quo minus dares, a domino manumissus sit, haec manumissio morti similis sit: si autem decessisset, non tenearis.
[POMPONIUS, in the ninth book of his Letters.] If you promised that another's slave should be given to me, or were ordered by a will to give him, and that slave, before it was due to you that you did not give him, is manumitted by his owner, this manumission is similar to death: for if he had died, you would not be held liable.
§46.3.92.1Sed et si quis seruum, quem dari promisit, heres a domino scriptus statuliberum dederit, liberatur.
But also, if anyone who promised that a slave should be given, having been appointed heir by the owner, has given him as a conditionally free person, he is released.

Notes

  1. §46.3.92.prantequam per te staret quo minus dares — A construction using the idiomatic expression `stat per aliquem quo minus` (it is due to someone that ... not, someone is the cause of ... not happening). Here it refers to the time before the debtor falls into default (mora), i.e., before the failure to deliver is attributable to the debtor. Both `staret` and `dares` are in the subjunctive mood.
  2. §46.3.92.prsi autem decessisset, non tenearis — A mixed condition where the protasis is in the pluperfect subjunctive `decessisset` (if he had died in the past) and the apodosis is in the present subjunctive `tenearis` (you would not be held liable now or generally), showing a present/general consequence resulting from a past hypothetical event.
  3. §46.3.92.1statuliberum — Refers to a slave (statuliber) who, by a will or other instrument, is designated to become free upon fulfilling a certain condition (such as paying a sum of money or serving for a certain period). It shows that even if the debtor delivers a slave in this status, it is a valid performance and the debtor is released (liberatur).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §46.3.92.pr-46.3.92.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:46.3.92.pr-46.3.92.1

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