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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §48.15.4.pr

Fabian Law on Freemen Given as Gifts or Dowry

Passage 8332 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Gaius discusses the liability under the Fabian law for those who knowingly give or receive a free person as a gift or dowry, and its application to cases of barter.

[GAIUS libro uicensimo secundo ad edictum prouinciale. ] §48.15.4.prLege Fabia tenetur, qui sciens liberum hominem donauerit uel in dotem dederit, item qui ex earum qua causa sciens liberum esse acceperit, in eadem causa haberi debeat, qua uenditor et emptor habetur.
[GAIUS, Book XXII on the Provincial Edict.] Under the Fabian law, anyone who knowingly has given a free person as a gift or has given them as a dowry is held liable; likewise, anyone who, from any of those causes, has accepted them knowing that they are a free person, ought to be held in the same position as that in which a seller and a buyer are held.
idem et si pro eo res permutata fuerit.
The same also applies if a thing has been bartered for him.

Notes

  1. §48.15.4.prearum qua causa — earum is a feminine genitive plural referring to the implied nouns donatio (gift) and dos (dowry) from the preceding verbs donauerit and dederit. qua is the ablative feminine singular of the indefinite pronoun qui, modifying causa. Thus, it means 'from any of those causes.'
  2. §48.15.4.prsciens liberum esse — sciens (knowing) is a present participle in the nominative, agreeing with the subject qui. liberum esse is an accusative with infinitive clause (with the subject pronoun eum omitted), serving as the object of sciens.
  3. §48.15.4.prin eadem causa haberi debeat, qua uenditor et emptor habetur — The subjunctive debeat functions as the main verb for the qui clause. causa here refers to 'legal standing' or 'position.' 'in eadem causa ..., qua ...' is an elliptical expression for 'in eadem causa ..., in qua ...', indicating that the recipient of a gift or dowry should be placed in the same legal position (i.e., liable under the Fabian law) as the seller and buyer in a contract of sale.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §48.15.4.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:48.15.4.pr

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