1. The Pledged Slave. The main rules can be shortly stated. A slave who is the subject of a specific pledge, express or tacit, cannot be freed however solvent the owner may be, unless the creditor assents, or security in lieu of the slave is given. The rule does not apply to a general hypothec, tacit or express, unless the slave has actually been seized under it, but of course the manumission must not infringe the rule of the lex Aelia Sentia as to manumission in fraud of creditors. One text seems to imply that an express general hypothec is a bar, but this is clearly negatived by the other texts, and as the text is corrupt it probably means no more than that even though the manumitter is insolvent, a manumission of a slave received for the purpose cannot be impeached on the ground of fraud, though, in general, manumission by an insolvent who had given such a pledge would be at least suspicious. It is immaterial whether the manumission be inter vivos or by will, though as the latter operates only on aditio the gift will be good if the pledge is at an end at that date. If the pledge still exists the gift, as a direct gift, is void. But, at least in later law, there is a more favourable construction: such a gift implies a fideicommissary gift, so that when the pledge ceases to exist the slave can claim to be freed. It may be added that Severus provided by rescript that a pledged slave could be made necessarius heres.