Entirely without rights, the slave in early law could be put to death at the will of his master. Later legislation shielded him to some extent from unrestrained cruelty.
- Protection of the slave: Stages in Legislation
+ Lex Cornelia de Sicariis (82 B.C.) made the killing of another's slave without lawful reason a capital offence.
+ Lex Petronia (c. A.D. 78) prohibited the punishment of exposure of a slave to combat in the arena with wild beasts without a magistrate's permission.
+ Claudius gave freedom (with Latin rights) to a slave who had been abandoned because of infirmity.
+ Hadrian prohibited a master putting his slave to death without a magistrate's permission. He also forbade the castration of a slave. Ergastula (houses of correction for slaves) were abolished.
+ Antoninus Pius brought the killing by a master of his own slave within Lex Cornelia de Sicariis. He also enacted that a slave who, because of his master's cruelty, had sought protection in a temple, was to be sold to another master.
+ Constantine and Justinian allowed a master to inflict only moderate chastisement as punishment for a slave.
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- Slavery in Roman Law
+ Slavery (I): Its nature
+ Slavery (II): Legal status of the slave
+ Slavery (III): Causes of enslavement
+ Slavery (V): Termination of enslavement
+ Slavery (VI): Quasi-servility
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Source:
Roman Law, L. B. Curzon, page 62.
