LITIGATION WITH SEVERAL CREDITORS: FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED

A slave in business entrusted with a peculium may owe money to several creditors. When one of them wants to sue the master, he introduces an action on the peculium and can expect to be compensated up to the amount of the peculium. His position is obviously advantageous with regard to other creditors who would sue later, provided that a decision is made about his case first. Consequently, the timing of the judicial decision matters more than the chronological order of litigation, as Gaius clearly states in his com­mentary to the provincial edict.^[585] A pending decision, which may drastically change the content of the peculium, is irrelevant.

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