Lex Aelia Sentia,

Fufi'dius

a jurist, who probably lived between the time of Vespasian and Hadrian.

We do not subscribe to the conjecture of Maiansius, who believes that he may have been the same person with the L. Fufidius Pollio, who was consul in A. D. 166. He was not later than Africanus, and appears not to have been earlier than Atilicinus, a contemporary of Proculus, for, in Dig. 34. tit. 2. s. 5, Africanus seems to quote an opinion of Atilicinus from the second book of Quaestiones of Fufidius. Zimmern, however, must have understood this passage differently, for he draws from it the inference that Fufidius was earlier than Atilicinus. In Dig. 40. tit. 2. s. 25, Gaius quotes an opinion of Fufidius (for such is the true reading, not Aufidius, as some editions read, following Haloander in his departure from the Florentine manuscript of the Pandects). To the opinion of Fufidius Gaius opposes that of Nerva, the son, and adopts the latter. Hence Nerva, the son, is thought by Zimmern to have written after Fufidius, but the inference is not conclusive, for the question on which Nerva differed from Fufidius may have been disputed in the schools, and the opinion subsequently selected by Fufidius may have been controverted by Nerva before Fufidius wrote.

Works

Legal Opinions

In the passage in question, which relates to manumissions, Fufidius speaks of a causa probationis, and therefore Maiansius concludes that he wrote after the date of the Lex Aelia Sentia, which was passed in the beginning of the reign of Augustus. (Compare Gaius, 1.18, 38, 39, 40.) In the Institutes of Gaius (2.154), occurs the ambiguous expression, "Quamquam apud Fufidium Sabino placeat." Under Ferox [FEROX] we have endeavoured to explain the meaning of this expression. It seems to imply that a work passing under the name of Fufidius, contains an opinion of Sabinus, but it does not enable us to determine whether the work exhibited Fufidius as commenting upon or citing Sabinus, or whether it was an original treatise of Fufidius, with notes by Sabinus. In Dig. 42. tit. 5. s. 29, Fufidius is quoted by Paulus on a nice question:--When a man in whose honour a public statue has been erected becomes insolvent, does the ownership of the statue pass under a sale of his goods for the benefit of his creditors?

Cujas (Observ. 1.9) claims the honour of having been the first to rescue the name of this jurist from obscurity, and is inclined to identify him with the L. Fufidius mentioned above [No. 1], but this L. Fufidius was certainly earlier than our iurist. (Maiansius, ad XXX Ictorum Frag. Comment. vol. ii. p. 273-287.)

[J.T.G]