Enslavement arose under Roman Law: by Ius gentium, or, by Ius civile.
- Enslavement by Ius Gentium
+ Enslavement by descent
By ius gentium a child followed the status of its mother at the time it was born. Hence the child of a slave-mother was a slave.
Note: A favor libertatis provided an exception to this and allowed freedom to a child born to a slave-mother who had been free for any period of time during pregnancy.
+ Enslavement by capture in time of war
Since enemies were generally put to death or considered as slaves of their conquerors, a Roman who was captured by hostile armies was considered a slave.
Note: Ius Postliminii (post limen = across the threshold) restored rights to a captive who returned to his home with the intention of resuming those rights. Postliminium did not apply where the captive returned during a period of armistice or where he had surrendered or deserted to the enemy. His rights were considered as in suspension during the period of captivity; these rights were considered as having ended at the time of his capture in the event of his dying as a captive.
- Enslavement by the Ius Civile
+ A manifest thief could be enslaved under the early law.
+ A person who evaded military service, or taxation, or the census, could be enslaved.
+ A woman could be enslaved if she cohabited with a slave whose master had forbidden this. The children of such a union would be slaves.
+ Servi poenae, i.e. those condemned to death, or to enforced labour in the mines, or to a contest with wild beasts in the arena, were considered enslaved.
+ A libertinus guilty of ingratitude to his patron could be retorned to slavery.
+ An insolvent debtor might be sold "across the Tiber", i.e. into foreign slavery, under the early law.
+ A man over twenty years of age who had allowed himself to be sold as a slave, with fraudulent intent, could be enslaved as a punishment.
+ A child could be sold as a slave by parents in great poverty, but a right of redemption existed.
+ Dediticii (whose ancestors had been the inhabitants of states conquered and destroyed by the Romans) were not allowed to reside within one hundred miles of Rome on penalty of being reduced to slavery.
Note: Justinian abolished and as causes of slavery.
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- Slavery in Roman Law
+ Slavery (I): Its nature
+ Slavery (II): Legal status of the slave
+ Slavery (IV): Protection of the slave
+ Slavery (V): Termination of enslavement
+ Slavery (VI): Quasi-servility
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Source:
Roman Law, L. B. Curzon, pages 60 - 61.
