The peculium was the estate of sons, slaves, and other persons who were subject to the authority of someone else (personae alieno iuri subiectae). The peculium has two distinct facets: for those who were subject to another’s authority, the receipt of a peculium gave some degree of financial independence and autonomy, while for those who exerted authority, granting a peculium offered the prospect of participating indirectly, and therefore at lower risk, in business ventures that the recipient may elect to conduct. So far so good – that is the basic concept that emerges from the sources. But what was the peculium’s role, if any, in ancient society? Over the last couple of decades, one aspect of the peculium’s second facet – allowing the grantor of the peculium to team up with others and share in larger business ventures of the recipient – has become a more and more popular explanation. This assumption, however, faces two objections: first, no sources have come down to us that support the idea that the peculium was indeed used to organize larger business ventures, and second, the peculium’s legal regime seems less than optimal and in some respects even ill-suited to fund such enterprises. Therefore, if investing in business ventures is not the prime factor that drove the peculium’s development, its first facet comes back to the fore: was the peculium primarily a legal device for donations to personae alieno iuri subiectae?
Friday, September 6, 2013
Fleckner on the Peculium
Andreas M. Fleckner, Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, has posted The Peculium: A Legal Device for Donations to Personae Alieno Iuri Subiectae? Here is the abstract: