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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §48.19.34.pr-48.19.34.1

Prohibition of Labor for Slaves and Proxy Informers

Passage 8415 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Papinianus explains that a slave should not be sentenced to public labor and must be returned to his master if sentenced by error, and that those who instigate information through a proxy are subject to the penalty of an informer.

[IDEM libro sexto decimo responsorum. ] §48.19.34.prSeruus in opus publicum perpetuum ac multo magis temporarium non datur.
[IDEM libro sexto decimo responsorum.] A slave is not sentenced to perpetual, and much less to temporary, public labor.
cum igitur per errorem in opus temporarium fuisset datus, expleto tempore domino seruum esse reddendum respondi.
Therefore, when a slave had been sentenced to temporary labor through error, I answered that after the period of time had expired, the slave must be returned to his master.
§48.19.34.1Eos quoque poena delatoris ex sententia senatus consulti teneri respondi, qui per suppositam personam delatori causam dederunt.
I also answered that those who, through a substituted person, gave cause for accusation are also bound by the penalty of an accuser according to the opinion of the senatusconsultum.

Notes

  1. §48.19.34.prmulto magis — `multo` is an ablative of degree of difference modifying the comparative `magis`. The logic is that if slaves cannot be sentenced to perpetual labor, all the more they are not to be sentenced to temporary labor.
  2. §48.19.34.prdomino seruum esse reddendum — A gerundive construction denoting obligation (`seruum... reddendum esse`) within an indirect statement depending on `respondi`. Since the agent who must return the slave is omitted as obvious from the context, `domino` is not a dative of agent but the standard indirect object (dative) of the verb `reddere` (to return to someone).
  3. §48.19.34.1delatori causam dederunt — `delatori` is the dative of `delator` (informer/accuser), or possibly used for `delatio` (information/accusation). The phrase `causam dare` means "to give cause or occasion." Combined with `per suppositam personam` (through a substituted person), it refers to those who cause an accusation to be made by using a proxy, thereby being held liable to the same penalty as the informer under the senatusconsultum.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §48.19.34.pr-48.19.34.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:48.19.34.pr-48.19.34.1

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