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[German version] is derived from cognoscere and means an investigation or decision carried out when acting as a judge. In criminal proceedings, this term covers the investigation of a crime including the establishment of the facts (Dig. 47,20,3 pr.), as well as the interrogation of a person in remand (Dig. 1,16,6 pr.). In civil proceedings, causae cognito usually means a summary examination by a magistrate; as a form of proceedings, the cognito changes from an extraordinary type of proceedings ( extraordinaria c.) to the exclusive type of trial (so-called cognition trial/pro…

[German version] In a general legal sense, restitutio means 'restoration'. In the area of Roman criminal law, it refers to the full or partial revocation of a legally binding conviction, as a result of which the condemned is restored to his former status (cf. Cod. Iust 9,51). In Roman civil and civil action law, a distinction must be made between a material and a formal restitutio. In certain actions, the material restitutio is the desired outcome, thus above all in actions in rem such as the rei vindicatio (action for the restitution of goods by the owner): in …

[German version] The petition that determined the object of the dispute (which might have to be proven; Gai. Inst. 4,41) in the formula characteristic of the Roman formulary procedure (  formula ). In the case of a declaratory action, this formula is limited to the intentio (Gai. Inst. 4,44), while suits for obligations were differentiated depending on whether the object was a certum…

[German version] [1] (rhetoric) v. Actio [1] (rhetoric) v. Actio [1] Paulus, Christoph Georg (Berlin) [German version] [2] (legal) Declaration (legal). Literally 'declaration', pronuntiatio in Roman law meant any ruling made by the judge on the matter at issue (e.g. Dig. 42,1,1). The narrower sense arose from the peculiarity of Roman procedural law in strictly permitting only a condemnatio pecuniaria ('pecuniary condemnation', i.e. sentence to payment of a monetary sum). Notwithstanding this, there were particular actions which cou…

[German version] The term centumviri (‘hundred men’) refers to a court whose existence, according to heavily disputed theory, probably goes back to the beginnings of the Republic; its proceedings are documented throughout the period, and it is only at its sittings that the ancient symbo…

[German version] Reiectio civitatis refers to the relinquishment of civil rights, reiectio iudicis to the right of the parties in a civil or criminal suit to reject a certain number of judges who would be considered for deciding the case according to the list of judges, . Paulus, Christoph Georg (Berlin) Bibliography M. Kaser, K. Hackl, Das römische Zivilprozeßrecht, 21996, 195, 198.

[German version] Literally a confession, but in the modern sense also an acknowledgement. It led immediately to the enforcement proceeding instead of a sentence according to the principle that the confessing party should be considered as having been sentenced: …

[German version] (literally: 'usable time'). In Roman law, a particular manner of calculating a time limit. Whereas in the case of a tempus continuum ('continuous period of time') the initial date and the expiry of the term are unalterably fixed, TU implies taking into account only those days on which the time can be used by the relevant party. Either the beginning of the term is mad…

[German version] seems to have originally meant the one who goes there ( ad baetere), and therefore refers to the person who rules in a dispute by looking closely at it in contrast to the iudex judging purely according to a petition. An arbitrator of this kind, with knowledge of the facts, was especially necessary in actions for partition, which instead of being aimed at a conviction or acquittal were aimed at a legally operative allocation (  adiudicatio ). However, this distinguishing feature between arbiter and iudex was already becoming increasingly vague in the law of the Tw…

[German version] (excessive claim, cf. Cod. Iust. 3,10) - or, more commonly, plus petere - is a figure of Roman law intimately related to the artful construction of the formula in the Roman formula procedure. The pluspetitio led to sanctions or reactions in procedural law, which could range from …

[German version] The attestation of a legal transaction (for its validity) or another action (as evidence in a trial) according to Roman law. The enforceability of legal positions has always been dependent on the possibility of proving the conditions for their coming into existence. The importance of witnesses for criminal proceedings is evident; however, it was no less so for civil trials. Although documentary evidence surpassed the evidence of witnesses for the latter branch of law toward the en…

[German version] ‘Laying on hand’ occurs twice in connection with the most ancient type of Roman trial, the legis actio : first, anyone wishing to accuse another may, if the defendant refuses to attend, force him to appear before the praetor by manus iniectio, i.e. the use of force. The defendant may escape only by means of a vindex (a p…

[German version] means the affirming repetition of a formal contractual declaration by the magistrate. It is already attested as such by Gell. NA 17,2,10 for Twelve Tables proceedings. Macrob. Sat. 1,16,14 refers to do, dico, addico ( tria verba sollemnia) as the words probably ceremoniously and formally pronoun…

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[German version] A central concept of Roman  procedural law, it appears in several different senses: in the wider sense for the whole process, in the narrower sense (esp. in the context of the legis actio and formulary procedure which are divided into different procedural stages) for the last stage which took place before the judge (  iudex ). Upon transition to the cognitio procedure (  cognitio ) and concomitant elimination of the procedural stages, iudicium then only referred to the whole process for which the word processus has been in habitual usage since the MA. Additional …

[German version] In general civil law the specific designation of a thing or person (Dig. 6,1,6). This term lies at the origin of the interpretative formula falsa demonstratio non nocet (‘a wrong expression does not affect the matter's validity’), which was u…

[German version] is occasionally used generally for a demand or a request in Roman law as a synonym of petitio . For a Roman formula lawsuit in the 3rd cent. AD (in the context of the edict title de postulando; cf. also Cod. Iust. 2,6) Ulpian defines postulare as desiderium suum vel amici sui in iure ... exponere: vel alterius desiderio contradicere ('to expound to the court one's own or a friend's request or to contradict somebody else's request', Dig. 3,1,1,2). By a postulatio actionis a plaintiff requested a praetor to allow the action on which he had agreed with the accused by way of an editio …

[German version] In Roman law, satisdatio (the giving of a security) constituted a special form of the cautio (warranty). Anyone obliged to the satisdatio had to provide a guarantor at regular intervals (Dig. 2,8,1). The guarantor had to be idoneus (“fit”, i.e. solvent); this could be established by an arbiter (a judge with administrative discretion) (Dig. 2,8,9 and 10 pr). It was also a fundamental requirement that the bondsman was of the same legal status as the party furnishing security. Cases in which a satisdatio could be arranged by the praetor or where it was even prescribed ipso ju…

[German version] A lawsuit brought before the praetor concerning credited money or some other res certa could be concluded before the   litis contestatio if the plaintiff made the defendant take an oath on the validity of the claim involved in the suit. The defendant hereupon had the choice of paying or denying the claim; the latter is the …