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[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 (i.e. a particular sum, object or quantity of goods) or an incertum (i.e. quidquid dare facere oportet, ‘everything that someone is required to pay’). In the latter case, the intentio was used to give prec…

[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] A term adopted into contemporary languages in the meaning of ‘appeal against a sentence’, appellatio in Rome originally referred only to prevention by magisterial decree. An intercessory action of this kind connects the areas of meaning of appellatio and   provocatio , (Cic. Quinct. 65; Liv. 3,563; Plin. HN 6,90). They caused immediate and irrevocable discontinuance of the current process or action as well as, in some cases, referral to the person invoked or a new decision by him. In probably the most …

[German version] According to Gai. Inst. 4,42 adiudicatio is that part of the trial formula giving the judge legally operative powers. These were required in the three actions for partition ( familiae erciscundae, communi dividundo, finium regundorum), because they were used to divide the existing items of property among the parties, or in the case of the last-named action, to clarify the dividing line. For this purpose the judge could both allocate legal items relating to the law of property (property, mortgage, usufruct, etc.) a…

[German version] I. Alter Orient Even in the cuneiform laws (Cuneiform, legal texts in) going back to the middle of the 3rd millennium, it is impossible to discern an epoch in which it was true that virtually only the strong were able to claim their rights [7]. On the basis of Old Babylonian letters and some stipulations of the Codex Ḫammurapi it is certainly the case that self-help played a legally recognized role [8], and modulated self-help is furthermore mooted for Hittite law [5]. Widespread use of the word 'judge' (DI.KU5/ dajjānum) from the Old Akkadian period (24th/22nd cents.…

[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 loss of a case to corrective action (as today with the award of legal costs) within a legal dispute. According to Gaius [2] (Inst. 4,53ff.; 68), classical Roman law of the 1st-3rd cents. AD distinguished between four manifestations of the pluspetitio: re, tempore, loco, causa (factual, temporal,…

[German version] In contrast to the right to have recourse to a court that is guaranteed by modern constitutional law, the judge in (Classical) Roman antiquity was allowed to declare that he considered himself unable to come to a decision: rem sibi non liquere (Gell. NA 14,2,25) when he could not condemn or acquit according to procedural formula ( formula ). If he swore an oath to this effect, the parties could have the same legal dispute heard by another judge. The same applied to an arbiter (Dig. 4,8,13,3) appointed by a private arbitration agreement and to c…

[German version] As a counter-exception, the replicatio was the means in the Roman civil formula procedure for the claimant to rebut an exception ( exceptio ) of the respondent. The latter then had recourse to a duplicatio, the former then to a triplicatio, etc. All these objections were incorporated into the trial formula ( formula ) and thus constituted the dispute presentation debated and substantiated before the iudex . An example of the replicatio is shown in Dig. 44,2,9,1, where the claimant is enabled to reply to the objection of legal force to the effect that …

[German version] is the debtor in a process of legal action who, after being convicted, had not paid the sum owed within 30 days and had consequently been brought before the magistrate by the creditor by means of manus iniectio and had been handed over by the magistrate by   addicere to the creditor for enforcement. If the debtor did not pay or provide a vindex at the latest before the magistrate, the creditor could take the addictus home with him and, according to detailed terms in the Twelve Tables (3,3-5; Gell. NA 20,1,45), hold the man prisoner, albeit still as a free man. If the addictus was un…

[German version] [1] Dismissal from Roman military service The word missio was a technical term for dismissal from Roman military service. During the Principate, honesta missio usually followed after completion of the normal period of service (20 years in the legions, 16 in the praetoriae cohortes, 25 in the Auxilia and the equites singulares Augusti, 26, later 28, years in the navy), often even several years later. Invalids received early missio causaria. Severe misconduct was punished by dishonourable discharge ( missio ignominiosa). Veterans who were dimissi honesta missione or e…

[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 symbol of state sovereignty, the wooden lance ( hasta, Dig. 1,2,2,29) was displayed, Gai. Inst. 4,16; Cic. De or. 1,57,242; Top. 17,65. The court's composition is suggested by its name: from each of the 35   tribus , three men were chosen as members (giving 105 ‘men of the hundred’; see Fest. 47: ... et, licet quin…

[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 pronounced by the magistrate during the most important steps in conducting the case, which were, moreover, only permissible on dies fasti (Varro, Ling. 6,30). The magistrate's affirmation was probably the most constitutive law-creating act, occurring for instance in in iure cess…

[German version] (lit. 'prior legal proceedings'). Already under Roman law, the fact that different law-courts had different jurisdictions could in certain circumstances prevent the final resolution of a case until the legal question at issue had been clarified by the competent court. Examples of such questions might include the allocation of inheritances, the ownership of a piece of land or the existence of a capital offence. There was, however, no general precedence of the iudicia publica ( iudicium ) over actiones privatae. To resolve the tensions between the as yet unres…

[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: confessus pro iudicato habetur (est) (Dig. 42,2,1; 3; 6; Cod. Iust. 7,59,1). However, there were exceptions: 1) In criminal proceedings a defendant confessing to certain grave crimes (e.g., crimen laesae maiestatis: the most famous case being Jesus before Pilate, Mk 15,2ff.) was treated as sentenced. All th…

[German version] is a free citizen who pleads in court the case, in particular the liberation, of a slave, who is incapable of being a party to a lawsuit: as plaintiff in the vindicatio in libertatem including the manumissio vindicta, as defendant in the vindicatio in servitutem. On the possibilities of abuse in liberation cases Liv. 3,44 ff. Following preceding relaxation, Justinian ultimately declared slaves capable of acting in liberation cases (Cod. Iust. 7,17).  Vindicatio;  Manumissio Paulus, Christoph Georg (Berlin) Bibliography E. Ferenczy, in: Studi Donatuti, 1973,…

('probation'; 'test'; 'evidence'; 'proof'.) [German version] I. Law In Roman law, probatio included, without clear distinction, the central phase in every civil trial: the hearing of the evidence as a whole, the issue of apportioning the burden of proof and, finally, the list of submissions of evidence. The hearing of evidence by the iudex ('judge') is scarcely treated in the juridical writings; it was not regarded as an issue of law. The apportioning of the burden of proof was probably not observed as strictly as it is today…

[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] is an argument and interchange which can take place in the Senate or in judicial (criminal or civil) proceedings. In the latter case altercatio stands in contrast to the self-contained lecture oratio continua regularly given at the beginning of a hearing by the counsel of both parties. As proceedings progressed they repeatedly gave rise to debate, due to evidence recorded or other findings, on the status of the dispute and the legal situation; it took place in the form of an altercatio, shown as an example in Dig. 28,4,3. Oratio like altercatio was the field of action f…

[German version] The principle of sentencing to a fine associated with formulary procedure (Gai. Inst. 4,48) made it necessary in civil procedure for all actions not aimed at a fixed sum to be expressed in money value. Both process and result of the estimate required for this are called aestimatio litis.; it was carried out by the judge, or sometimes by the plaintiff ( iusiurandum in litem, estimate under oath of the amount involved). If the defendant refused to meet his duty of payment in kind, but instead paid the sum of the fine, the plaintiff finally lost …

[German version] The written formula is the essential component of the type of trial which replaced the   legis actio procedure; by means of the lex Aebutia, 2nd cent. BC, as well as the two leges Iuliae, 17 BC) and which consequently is generally described as a formula trial. Despite a slow development, this classical procedural type is distinguished from its predecessor by having far greater flexibility and by being more adaptable to individual cases in the late Republic and the Principate. The text of the suit was no longer ceremonial and…