Legal Definitions - manupretium

Manupretium refers to the compensation, essentially wages or payment, received for work that has been performed or services that have been rendered. Originating in Roman law, it specifically denotes the remuneration given in exchange for labor.

Here are some examples to illustrate this concept:

• Imagine a Roman citizen commissioning a skilled carpenter to build a custom dining table for their home. Once the carpenter completes the intricate work of crafting and assembling the table, the payment they receive for their efforts and materials would be considered the manupretium. It is the direct compensation for the labor and skill applied to create the finished product.

• Consider a wealthy Roman family hiring a private tutor to educate their children in rhetoric and philosophy. After a month of instruction, the sum of money paid to the tutor for their teaching services and intellectual labor would represent the manupretium. This payment is specifically for the service of education provided.

• Picture a landowner employing a group of farmhands to cultivate their fields and harvest crops during the growing season. The wages or provisions provided to these laborers at the end of their work period, in exchange for their physical effort and time spent tilling the soil and gathering the harvest, would be their manupretium. It is the payment for their performed agricultural labor.