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('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] 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] In criminal proceedings the sentencing of the accused (Cic. Verr. 2,75). In civil proceedings the condemnatio is according to Gai. Inst. 4,43 that part of the proceeding formula that grants a private judge in the context of the suit brought forward (  intentio ) and the statement of facts (  demonstratio ) the power to sentence or acquit ( qua iudici condemnandi absolvendive potestas permittitur). It is only required in payment suits. Gai. Inst. 4,48ff. further states that condemnatio relates to a sum of money ( condemnatio pecuniaria). This restriction (which was only finally abandoned under Justinian, Iust. inst. 4,6,32) by sentencing a monetary fine may be a reminiscence of the legal cases in the early period in which the dispute was …

[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…

[German version] [1] Guarantor in Roman procedural law A vindex, (probably with the same etymology as vindicta ) was a guarantor in Roman procedural law. He played a role in two parts of the trial--in the summoning and in the execution, each time in the context of the manus iniectio (the physical bringing forward of the defendant). According to the Twelve Tables (tab. 1,1; tabulae duodecim ), the latter was permitted when the defendant did not voluntarily follow the order of the plaintiff to appear in front of the court magistrate ( vocatio in ius ). The defendant co…

[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 advocatus, as ‘one called on’, developed from adviser to the ultimate legal adviser in the late classical period (around AD 200). At first advocatus referred to a usually influential person, who supported someone as an act of friendship …

[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 acco…

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[German version] Literally probably (from secare, 'to divide') a neutral person independent of the parties. According to the late Classical Roman jurist Modestinus (3rd cent. AD), sequester is the person to whom several entrust an item that is the subject of a dispute (Dig. 50,16,110). Until this period, the parties generally deposited the item whose replevy they disputed voluntarily and out of court. In occasional cases, e.g. Dig. 43,30,3,6 (custody of a child), however, the praetor could also make an official order for…

[German version] with the meaning of ‘receive, obtain’ (cf. Dig. 50,16,71pr.) characterizes several juristically relevant processes: as accipere hereditatem for instance (Dig. 28,5,77) the actual receipt of a legacy; as accipere censum the acceptance of a ‘tax declaration’ from the person liable to tax (Dig. 50,4,1,2); as …

[German version] The legis actio (LA) was the earliest form of Roman civil procedure and, therefore, characterized by considerable formality. It owed its name to a law from which the suit received its immutability but which Gaius (Inst. 4,11) was already at a loss to explain entirely. The formalities that had to be observed in this type of proceeding, which was reserved for Roman citiz…

[German version] [1] Hasta, hastati In the Roman army of the middle Republic, the hasta served primarily as a thrust lance for close combat although it could also be thrown; it had a wooden shaft and an iron point. The hasta was adapted to the fighting style of the  phalanx, but it remained in use when, in the 4th cent. BC, the Romans adopted a more flexible set-up in maniples (  manipulus ). According to Livy (Liv. 8,8,5-13), whose account, however, is not without its problems, in 340 BC the Roman army consisted of three battle rows, the hastati, the principes and the triarii. The triarii were armed with the hasta; it can be assumed that the hastati were also equipped with the hasta. The spear (  pilum ), on the other hand, is not mentioned here. Polybius, in his description of the Roman army, which probably reflects the situation in the 2nd cent. BC, refers to property and age as the criteria for the recruitment of soldiers: the hastati, younger men, wore the full armour and stood in the first battle row, the principes stood in the second row, while the older and battle-hardened soldiers were placed as triarii in the third row (Pol. 6,21-23). The hastati and principes were equipped with an oval shield, a sword and probably two pila, and wore bronze breast plates and greaves; the hastati had bronze helmets with long feathers which…

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[German version] As a counter-exception, the replicatio was the means in the…

[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 o…

[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 (a…

[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 (  …

[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 …

[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. In…