Obligatio servi ex delicto

Abstract

The paper examines the nature of a delinquent slave’s liability (obligatio servi ex delicto), conceptualizing it as a corporeal bond whereby the slave was subjected to noxal action (actio noxalis caput sequitur) in the manner of a res obligata. Contrary to the communis opinio, therefore, the author argues that the obligatio servi ex delicto did not constitute a further autonomous effect arising from the slave’s delict alongside the noxal obligation of the dominus. Instead, it is identified as the noxal obligation itself, analyzed objectively from the slave's position rather than subjectively from the perspective of the potestas holder