Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §48.15.3.pr-48.15.3.1

Exemption of Bona Fide Possessor and Death of the Slave

Passage 8331 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It provides that a bona fide possessor is exempt from liability for concealing a slave under the Fabian law, and that the accusation and penalty under this law remain valid even if the slave in question has died.

[MARCIANUS libro primo iudiciorum publicorum. ] §48.15.3.prLegis Fabiae crimine suppressi mancipii bona fide possessor non tenetur, id est qui ignorabat seruum alienum, et qui uoluntate domini putabat id eum agere.
[MARCIANUS, Book I on Public Judgments.] A bona fide possessor is not held liable under the charge of concealing a slave under the Fabian law; that is, one who did not know the slave belonged to another, and who thought that the slave was doing this by the will of his master.
et ita de bona fide possessore ipsa lex scripta est: nam adicitur 'si sciens dolo malo hoc fecerit': et saepissime a principibus Seuero et Antonino constitutum est, ne bonae fidei possessores hac lege teneantur.
And the law itself is so written concerning a bona fide possessor: for it is added, "if he did this knowingly with malicious intent." And it was very frequently established by the emperors Severus and Antoninus that bona fide possessors should not be held liable under this law.
§48.15.3.1Illud non est omittendum, quod exemplo legis Aquiliae, si is, propter quem quis in Fabiam commisit, decesserit, adhuc accusatio et poena legis Fabiae superest, ut et diuus Seuerus et Antoninus rescripserunt.
This must not be omitted, that, after the example of the Aquilian law, if he, on account of whom someone committed an offense against the Fabian law, should die, the accusation and penalty of the Fabian law still survive, as both the divine Severus and Antoninus stated in their rescripts.

Notes

  1. §48.15.3.prid eum agere — An accusative with infinitive (A.C.I.) construction dependent on the verb `putabat`, where `eum` (referring to the slave) is the subject accusative of the infinitive `agere`, and `id` is its direct object. It describes the situation where the possessor believed that the slave was acting by the master's will.
  2. §48.15.3.1propter quem quis in Fabiam commisit — `in Fabiam` is an ellipsis of `in legem Fabiam`. `committere in legem` is an idiomatic expression meaning "to commit an offense against a law," with `commisit` used intransitively here. `propter quem` (on account of whom) refers to the slave who was the object of the unlawful act.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §48.15.3.pr-48.15.3.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:48.15.3.pr-48.15.3.1

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