Ad edictum praetoris libri
Ex libro XLVI
Dig. 29,5,6Paulus libro quadragensimo sexto ad edictum. Etsi percussor certus sit, tamen habenda quaestio est, ut caedis mandator inveniatur: utique autem ipse maxime quaestioni dabitur, quamvis et ceteri puniantur. 1Quamvis alias in caput domini servi non torqueantur, recte tamen fiet quaestio, etiamsi heredem accusent, sive extraneus heres sive ex suis sit. 2Si unus ex dominis non compareat, quaerendum est de casu eius per servos, quos communes habuerunt: magis enim de salute aut ultione domini non comparentis quam in caput praesentis torquebuntur. 3Si appetitus sit nec occisus dominus, nihil senatus consulto cavetur: ipse enim in familiam suam potest animadvertere.
Paulus, On the Edict, Book XLVI. Even if the murderer should be well known, torture must still be inflicted, in order that the instigator of the crime may be detected. Moreover, the murderer himself shall, by all means, be put to the question, and the other slaves also punished. 1Although slaves shall not be tortured except where their master is accused of a capital crime; still, torture can be properly inflicted even if the heir is accused, whether he be a foreign, or the proper heir. 2Where one of two masters does not appear, the slaves held in common shall be put to the question to ascertain what has happened to him; for they are tortured to ascertain something with reference to the fate of the master who does not appear, rather than to avenge his death, or to obtain information which may implicate the master who is present in a capital crime. 3Where a master has been attacked, but not killed, nothing is provided by the Decree of the Senate, for he himself can punish his own slave.
Dig. 29,5,8Idem libro quadragensimo sexto ad edictum. Senatus consulto Pisoniano cavetur, ut, si poenae obnoxius servus venisset, quandoque animadversum in eum esset, ut venditor pretium praestaret, ne emptori iniuriam fecisse videatur senatus. 1Si filius familias, qui in castrensi peculio testatus est, occisus sit, omnimodo id defendendum est, ut, ex quibus casibus ad fiscum patris familias bona pertinent, his casibus et huius peculium, potius quam ad heredes, qui deliquerunt in adeundo et similibus ultive non sunt.
The Same, On the Edict, Book XLIX. It is provided by the Pisonian Decree of the Senate that: “Where a slave is liable to some penalty and is about to be punished, the vendor shall refund the price paid for him to the purchaser;” which was enacted by the Senate to avoid any injury being done to the purchaser. 1Where a son under paternal control, who has made a testamentary disposition of his castrense peculium, is killed, it should undoubtedly be maintained that under these circumstances the estate of the deceased will belong to the Treasury, if his heirs have entered upon his estate, and did not avenge his death; just as in a similar instance, the estate of the head of a household will also be forfeited.