Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §7.7.4.pr

Fruit of Slave Services and Deduction of Necessary Expenses

Passage 1311 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Explains that the fruit of a slave consists of their services (and vice versa) and that, as with other property, necessary expenses must be deducted when determining the fruit of slaves' services.

[IDEM libro secundo de liberali causa edicti urbici. ] §7.7.4.prFructus hominis in operis constitit et retro in fructu hominis operae sunt.
[THE SAME, in the second book on the 'Freedom Suit' of the Urban Edict.] The fruit of a slave consists in services, and conversely, services are included in the fruit of a slave.
et ut in ceteris rebus fructus deductis necessariis impensis intellegitur, ita et in operis seruorum.
And just as in other things, fruit is understood after deducting necessary expenses, so also is it in the services of slaves.

Notes

  1. §7.7.4.prhominis — The word `homo` (genitive `hominis`) here refers to a 'slave' (seruus) in this context and in Roman legal terminology, rather than a human being in general.
  2. §7.7.4.prdeductis necessariis impensis — An ablative absolute construction, consisting of the perfect passive participle `deductis` (from `deduco`) and the noun `impensis` modified by the adjective `necessariis`, meaning 'necessary expenses having been deducted'.
  3. §7.7.4.prut... ita — A correlative comparative construction meaning 'just as... so...'. In the succeeding `ita` clause (`ita et in operis seruorum`), the verb `intellegitur` (or the entire structure `fructus... intellegitur`) from the preceding `ut` clause is understood and omitted.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §7.7.4.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:7.7.4.pr

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.