1Gaius, Institutes, Book I. All the law which We make use of relates either to persons, things, or actions.

2Hermogenianus, Epitomes of Law, Book I. Therefore, since all law has been established on account of mankind, we shall first speak of the condition of persons, and afterwards of other matters, following the order of the Perpetual Edict, and adding to them the titles as arranged and connected with them, as far as the matter permits.

3Gaius, Institutes, Book I. The principal division of the law of persons is as follows, namely, that all men are either free or slaves.

4Florentinus, Institutes, Book IX. Liberty is the natural power of doing whatever anyone wishes to do unless he is prevented in some way, by force or by law. 1Slavery is an institution of the Law of Nations by means of which anyone may subject one man to the control of another, contrary to nature. 2Slaves are so called for the reason that military commanders were accustomed to sell their captives, and in this manner to preserve them, instead of putting them to death. 3They are styled mancipia, because they are taken by the hands of their enemies.

5Marcianus, Institutes, Book I. One condition is common to all slaves; but of persons who are free some are born such, and others are manumitted. 1Slaves are brought under our ownership either by the Civil Law or by that of Nations. This is done by the Civil Law where anyone who is over twenty years of age permits himself to be sold for the sake of sharing in his own price. Slaves become our property by the Law of Nations when they are either taken from the enemy, or are born of our female slaves. 2Persons are born free who are born from a free mother, and it is sufficient for her to have been free at the time when her child was born, even though she may have been a slave when she conceived; and, on the other hand, if she was free when she conceived, and was a slave when she brought forth, it has been established that her child is born free, nor does it make any difference whether she conceived in a lawful marriage or through promiscuous intercourse; because the misfortune of the mother should not be a source of injury to her unborn child. 3Hence the following question arose, where a female slave who was pregnant, has been manumitted, and is afterwards again made a slave, or, after having been expelled from the city, should bring forth a child, whether that child should be free or a slave? It was very properly established that it was born free; and that it is sufficient for a child who is unborn that its mother should have been free during the intermediate time.

6Gaius, Institutes, Book I. Freedmen are those who are manumitted from lawful slavery.

7Ad Dig. 1,5,7Windscheid: Lehrbuch des Pandektenrechts, 7. Aufl. 1891, Bd. I, § 52, Note 2.Paulus, On the Shares Granted to the Children of Condemned Persons. A child in its mother’s womb is cared for just as if it were in existence, whenever its own advantage is concerned; although it cannot be of any benefit to anyone else before it is born.

8Papinianus, Questions, Book III. The Emperor Titius Antoninus stated in a Rescript that the status of children could not be prejudiced on account of the tenor of an improperly drawn instrument.

9The Same, Questions, Book XXXI. In many parts of our law the condition of women is worse than that of men.

10Ulpianus, on Sabinus, Book I. The question has been raised to which sex shall we assign an hermaphrodite? And I am of the opinion that its sex should be determined from that which predominates in it.

11Paulus, Opinions, Book XVIII. Paulus was of the opinion that a child who was conceived during the life of its grandfather, while the latter was ignorant of the connexion of his daughter, even though it was born after the death of its grandfather, was not the lawful son of him by whom it was begotten.

12The Same, Opinions, Book XIX. It is now generally held upon the authority of that most learned man Hippocrates, that a child perfectly formed may be born in the seventh month; and therefore it is established that a child who is born in lawful marriage after seven months is legitimate.

13Hermogenianus, Epitomes of Law, Book I. A slave abandoned by his master to fortune in the trial of a capital case does not become free even if he should be acquitted.

14Paulus, Sentences, Book IV. Those beings are not children who are born formed in some way which is contrary to the likeness of the human race; as, for instance, where a woman brings forth something monstrous or unnatural. A child, however, which has more than the ordinary number of human limbs seems to be, to some extent, completely formed, and therefore may be included among children.

15Tryphoninus, Controversies, Book X. A slave named Arescusa was declared to be free by will if she brought forth three children; and at her first delivery she had one child, and at her second she had three. The question then arose as to which of the said children were free? The condition on which her freedom pended had to be fulfilled by the woman, and there was no doubt that the last child was born free; for nature does not permit two children to come forth from their mother’s womb at the same time, by one movement, so that the order of birth being uncertain, it does not appear which one was born in slavery, and which was born free. Therefore, the condition having been fulfilled at the time the birth began, namely that the child should be born of a free woman, it is the one born last, just as if any other condition imposed on the freedom of the woman had been fulfilled at the moment of her delivery; for example, that she should be manumitted on condition that she gave ten thousand sesterces to the heir, or to Titius; and at the instant when she was delivered she fulfilled the condition through the agency of someone else; it would necessarily be held that she was already a free woman when she brought forth the child.

16Ulpianus, Controversies, Book VI. The same thing should take place if Arescusa had first brought forth two children, and afterwards brought forth twins; for it must be held that both the latter are not born free, but only the one who was born last. The question, however, is rather one of fact than of law.

17The Same, On the Edict, Book XXII. According to a Constitution of the Emperor Antoninus, all those who were living in the Roman world were made Roman citizens.

18The Same, on Sabinus, Book XXVII. The Emperor Hadrian set forth in a Rescript addressed to Publicius Marcellus, that if a free woman after having been condemned to death while pregnant brought forth a child it would be free; and that it was customary to hold her until she was delivered. Also, where a woman who has conceived in lawful marriage is interdicted from fire and water, the child she brings forth is a Roman citizen, and remains under the control of its father.

19Celsus, Digest, Book XXIX. When children are born in lawful marriage they follow the condition of the father, but one that is conceived in promiscuous intercourse follows the condition of the mother.

20Ulpianus, on Sabinus, Book XXXVIII. Anyone who becomes insane is considered to retain the position and rank he previously held, and also his magistracy and authority; just as he retains the ownership of his property.

21Modestinus, Rules, Book VII. Where a freeman sells himself and is afterwards manumitted, he does not recover his former condition of which he deprived himself, but belongs to the class of freedmen.

22The Same, Opinions, Book XII. Herennius Modestinus held that if a female slave brought forth a child at the time when, according to the terms of the donation which disposed of her, she should be manumitted; since she was free by the Imperial Constitution, the child born of her is freeborn.

23The Same, Pandects, Book I. The term “conceived in promiscuous intercourse” is applicable to those who cannot show who their father is, or if they can do so, he is not their lawful father, and these are called spurious, from spora.

24Ulpianus, On Sabinus, Book XXVII. The law of nature is that a child born out of lawful matrimony follows the mother, unless a special law provides otherwise.

25The Same, On the Lex Julia et Papia, Book I. We should consider him to be freeborn who has been legally declared such, even though he is in fact a freedman; for the reason that whatever is judicially determined is accepted as truth.

26Julianus, Digest, Book LXIX. Those who are unborn are, by almost every provision of the Civil Law, understood to be already in existence; for estates legally descend to them, and if a pregnant woman is taken by the enemy, her child has the right of postliminium, and it also follows the condition of the father, or mother. Moreover, if a pregnant female slave is stolen, even after she may have brought forth in the hands of a purchaser in good faith, her child being stolen property is not acquired by use. The result of this is that a manumitted slave, also, as long as a son can be born to his patron is considered to hold the same position under the law as those who have patrons living.

27Ulpianus, Opinions, Book V. Where a man admits that he is a freedman, his patron cannot make him freeborn even by adopting him.