[Iustiniani Institutiones]

Concerning freedmen

Freedmen are those who have been manumitted from a lawful servitude. Manumissio the act of freeing a slave is the granting of liberty; for as long as anyone is in servitude, they are subject to the power of a master, and once manumitted, they are liberated from the master's power. This matter took its origin from the ius gentium law of nations; for according to natural law, all men were born free, and manumission was not known, because servitude was unknown. But after servitude entered through the ius gentium, the benefit of manumission followed. And since all men were called by one common name,

under the law of nations three types of men began to exist: those who are free, their opposites the slaves, and a third type, the freedmen, who had ceased to be slaves. Manumission proceeds in many ways, whether through sacred rites in the sacrosanctis ecclesiis most holy churches, or by the vindicta a rod used in the ceremony of manumission, or among friends, or by letter, or by testament, or by any other last will. But liberty can also be offered in other ways, which have been introduced both by ancient laws and by our own. Indeed, slaves are often accustomed to be manumitted by their masters to such an extent that they may even be manumitted while they are passing by, just as when the praetor a Roman magistrate, or the praeses governor, or the proconsul goes to the bath or to the theater. The status of freedmen was previously threefold: for those who were manumitted sometimes obtained greater and lawful liberty and became Roman citizens; sometimes they obtained lesser liberty and became Latins by the Lex Iunia Norbana Iunian Latin Law; sometimes they obtained the lowest status and became dediticii surrendered persons/prisoners of war by the Lex Aelia Sentia Aelian Sentian Law. But concerning the dediticii, whose condition was the worst, it has already...