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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §47.2.7.pr-47.2.7.3

Capture After Manumission and Conditions of Manifest Theft

Passage 7867 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Ulpian discusses whether a theft committed in servitude constitutes a manifest theft if the perpetrator is caught after manumission, and examines the definition of "apprehending" a thief with reference to the opinions of Pomponius and Celsus.

[ULPIANUS libro quadragensimo primo ad Sabinum. ] §47.2.7.prSi quis in seruitute furtum fecerit et manumissus deprehendatur, an fur manifestus sit, uideamus.
[ULPIANUS libro quadragensimo primo ad Sabinum.] If anyone commits a theft while in servitude and is caught after being manumitted, let us consider whether he is a manifest thief.
et ait Pomponius libro nono decimo ex Sabino non posse eum manifesti conueniri, quia origo furti in seruitute facti non fuit manifesti.
And Pomponius says in his nineteenth book on Sabinus that he cannot be sued as a manifest thief, because the origin of the theft committed in servitude was not manifest.
§47.2.7.1Ibidem Pomponius eleganter scripsit deprehensione fieri manifestum furem: ceterum si, cum tibi furtum facerem de domo tua, abscondisti te, ne te occidam, etiamsi uidisti furtum fieri, attamen non est manifestum.
In the same place, Pomponius elegantly wrote that a thief becomes manifest by being caught; however, if, while I was committing a theft against you from your house, you hid yourself so that I would not kill you, even if you saw the theft being committed, nevertheless, it is not manifest.
§47.2.7.2Sed Celsus deprehensioni hoc etiam adicit, si, cum uidisses eum subripientem et ad comprehendendum eum accurrisses, abiecto furto effugit, furem manifestum esse:
But Celsus adds this also to "being caught": if, when you had seen him stealing and had run to apprehend him, he fled after throwing away the stolen property, he is a manifest thief.
§47.2.7.3Paruique referre putat, dominus an uicinus an quilibet transiens adprehendat.
And he thinks it matters little whether the owner, a neighbor, or any passerby apprehends him.

Notes

  1. §47.2.7.prmanifesti conueniri — manifesti is a genitive of charge (or an abbreviation of manifesti furti) modifying the passive infinitive conueniri (to be sued), meaning "to be sued as a manifest thief."
  2. §47.2.7.1deprehensione fieri manifestum furem — deprehensione is an ablative of means. manifestum furem is the subject accusative of the infinitive fieri, forming an accusative-and-infinitive construction meaning "a thief becomes manifest by being caught."
  3. §47.2.7.1ne te occidam — A purpose clause introduced by ne with the present subjunctive occidam. Although the main verb abscondisti is in the perfect tense, the present subjunctive is used instead of the imperfect occiderem to vividly represent the threat of being killed as still relevant or immediate from the narrator's perspective.
  4. §47.2.7.3Paruique referre — parui is a genitive of value (genitivus pretii) modifying the infinitive of the impersonal verb refert (referre), meaning "it matters little" or "it is of small importance." The grammatical subject is the following indirect question introduced by an...an...an....

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §47.2.7.pr-47.2.7.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:47.2.7.pr-47.2.7.3

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