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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §47.2.61.pr

Theft of a Runaway Slave and Her Offspring

Passage 7923 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The passage discusses how a runaway female slave, who is considered to commit theft of herself, also makes her offspring stolen property by handling it.

[AFRICANUS libro septimo quaestionum. ] §47.2.61.prAncilla fugitiua quemadmodum sui furtum facere intellegitur, ita partum quoque contrectando furtiuum facit.
[AFRICANUS in the seventh book of Questions.] Just as a runaway female slave is understood to commit theft of herself, so also by handling her offspring she makes it stolen property.

Notes

  1. §47.2.61.prsui — The genitive is an objective genitive dependent on the noun furtum, referring to the act of 'stealing oneself', i.e., unlawfully removing oneself from the master's control.
  2. §47.2.61.printellegitur — A nominative with infinitive construction with ancilla as the subject, meaning literally 'a female slave is understood to...'.
  3. §47.2.61.prcontrectando — Ablative of the gerund expressing means. It refers to contrectatio (handling/touching), which is a necessary physical element for the establishment of theft (furtum) in Roman law.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §47.2.61.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:47.2.61.pr

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