The main reconstructions of the edictum de mancipiis vendundis text

Abstract

"The edictum de mancipiis vendundis" text, issued by the Curule magistracy on defect warranty in slave trade, did not reach us directly; therefore, the academic which is studying about slave sale, the most traded merx in pre-classical and classical Rome, has to deal with a complicated exegetical activity of text reconstruction. Even today, alongside the most modern work of Impallomeni, the nineteenth-century works of Rudorff and Lenel (based, for the first time, on a systematic method) are indispensable for this purpose; however, texts do not often agree. Therefore, this article aims to make a general and systemic comparison between the most important text reconstructions of the "edictum de mancipiis vendundis", through the tool of the table, which we believe can be a valuable aid in the study of each edictal clauses.