# The Institutes of Justinian 1.772-780

Roman Law and Society, The Institutes of Justinian, Lines 1.772-1.780. Latin.

Canonical: https://interlinea.aeterna-institute.org/library/latin/roman-law-and-society/the-institutes-of-justinian/1.772

3. An injuria cannot, properly speaking, be done to a slave, but it is the master who, through the slave, is considered to be injured; not, however, in the same way as through a child or wife, but only when the act is of a character grave enough to make it a manifest insult to the master, as if a person has flogged severely the slave of another, in which case this actio is given against him. But a master cannot bring an actio against a person who has collected a crowd round his slave, or struck him with his fist.
4. If an injuria has been done to a slave held in common, equity demands that it shall be estimated not according to their respective shares in him, but according to their respective position, for it is the masters who are injured.
5. If Titius has the usufructus, and Maevius the property in a slave, the injuria is considered to be done rather to Maevius than to Titius.
6. If the injury has been done to a free man, who serves you bona fide, you have no actio, but he can bring an actio in his own name, unless he has been injured merely to insult you, for, in that case, you may bring the actio injuriarum. So, too, with regard to a slave of another who serves you bona fide, you may bring this actio whenever the slave is injured for the purpose of insulting you.
7. The penalty for injuries under the law of the Twelve Tables was a limb for a limb, but if only a bone was fractured, pecuniary compensation being exacted proportionate to the great poverty of the times. Afterwards, the praetor permitted the injured parties themselves to estimate the injury, so that the iudex should condemn the defendants to pay the sum estimated, or less, as he may think proper. The penalty appointed by the Twelve Tables has fallen into desuetude, but that introduced by the praetors, and termed honorary, is adopted in the administration of justice. For, according to the rank and character of the person injured, the estimate is greater or less; and a similar gradation is observed, not improperly, even with regard to a slave, one amount being paid in the case of a slave who is a steward, a second in that of a slave holding an office of the intermediate class, and a third in that of one of the lowest rank, or one condemned to wear fetters.

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Roman Law and Society, The Institutes of Justinian. Text: The Latin Library (thelatinlibrary.com), used with permission. Changes: HTML markup removed and the text divided into reading sections by Interlinea.
License: Used with permission (https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/about.html). Source: http://thelatinlibrary.com/law/institutes.html.