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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §50.17.179.pr

Presumption in Favor of Liberty in Ambiguous Manumission

Passage 9239 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

States the legal principle that in cases where the intention of the manumitting master is unclear, favor must be shown to liberty (favor libertatis).

[IDEM libro sexto decimo ad Plautium. ] §50.17.179.prIn obscura uoluntate manumittentis fauendum est libertati.
[THE SAME, in the sixteenth book on Plautius.] In the case of the obscure will of the person manumitting, favor must be shown to liberty.

Notes

  1. §50.17.179.prfauendum est — An impersonal use of the gerundive expressing obligation or propriety ('favor must be shown'). The intransitive verb fauere takes the dative (here, libertati) as its object.
  2. §50.17.179.prmanumittentis — The present active participle in the genitive singular of the verb manumittere ('to set free', 'to manumit'). It modifies uoluntate, identifying the person whose will is in question.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §50.17.179.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:50.17.179.pr

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