Ad Sabinum libri
Ex libro XXXVI
Dig. 49,15,20Pomponius libro trigensimo sexto ad Sabinum. Si captivus, de quo in pace cautum fuerat ut rediret, sua voluntate apud hostes mansit, non est ei postea postliminium. 1Verum est expulsis hostibus ex agris quos ceperint dominia eorum ad priores dominos redire nec aut publicari aut praedae loco cedere: publicatur enim ille ager qui ex hostibus captus sit. 2Redemptio facultatem redeundi praebet, non ius postliminii mutat.
Pomponius, On Sabinus, Book XXXVI. If a captive, for whom security has been given that he will return voluntarily, remains with the enemy, he will not afterwards be entitled to the right of postliminium. 1It is true that when the enemy have been driven from the territory which they have taken, this territory will revert to its former owners, and it will neither become the property of the State, nor be considered as booty; for land becomes the property of the State which is captured from the enemy. 2Ransom confers the power of returning to one’s country, and does not change the right of postliminium.