[HERMOGENIANUS libro primo iuris epitomarum. ] §5.1.53.prVix certis ex causis aduersus dominos seruis consistere permissum est: id est si qui suppressas tabulas testamenti dicant, in quibus libertatem sibi relictam adseuerant.
[HERMOGENIANUS book one of the Epitomes of Law.] Only with difficulty and for specific reasons is it permitted for slaves to stand in court against their masters: that is, if any assert that the tablets of a testament have been suppressed, in which they claim freedom has been left to them.
item artioris annonae populi Romani, census etiam et falsae monetae criminis reos dominos detegere seruis permissum est.
Likewise, it is permitted for slaves to expose their masters who are accused of the crime of restricting the grain supply of the Roman people, of census fraud, and of counterfeiting money.
praeterea fideicommissam libertatem ab his petent: sed et si qui suis nummis redemptos se et non manumissos contra placiti fidem adseuerent.
In addition, they will petition for freedom left by trust from them; but also if any assert that, contrary to the faith of the agreement, they were ransomed with their own money and have not been manumitted.
liber etiam esse iussus si rationes reddiderit, arbitrum contra dominum rationibus excutiendis recte petet.
Also, a slave who has been ordered to be free if he renders his accounts will rightly request an arbiter against his master for the purpose of auditing the accounts.
sed et si quis fidem alicuius elegerit, ut nummis eius redimatur atque his solutis manumittatur, nec ille oblatam pecuniam suscipere uelle dicat, contractus fidem detegendi seruo potestas tributa est.
But also if anyone has relied on the good faith of someone, in order to be ransomed with that person's money and to be manumitted once this money is repaid, and that person says he does not wish to accept the offered money, the power of exposing the faith of the contract is granted to the slave.