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[English version] Nach Gai. inst. 4,42 ist a. derjenige Teil der Prozeßformel, der dem Richter rechtsgestaltende Befugnisse einräumt. Diese waren bei den 3 Teilungsklagen ( familiae erciscundae, communi dividundo, finium regundorum) erforderlich, weil bei ihnen die vorhandenen Vermögensgegenstände, bzw. bei der letztgenannten Klage die Grenzlinie, unter den Parteien verteilt bzw. geklärt werden mußte. Zu diesem Zweck konnte der Richter sowohl sachenrechtliche Rechtspositionen (Eigentum, Hypothek, Nießbrauch, etc.) zuweisen a…

[English version] Im allgemeinen Zivilrecht die spezifizierende Kennzeichnung einer Sache oder Person (Dig. 6,1,6). Dieser Begriff liegt dem noch heute geltenden, von den Römern vornehmlich bei der Testamentsauslegung verwendeten Auslegungstopos falsa d. non nocet (‘ein falscher Ausdruck schadet der Wirksamkeit des Geschäftes nicht’) zugrunde (Inst. Iust. 2,20,30). Im zivilprozessualen Kontext bedeutet d. die bei einer Vielzahl von Prozeßformeln an den Anfang gestellte knappe Präzisierung des streitgegenständlichen Sachverhalts (Gai. inst. 4,39;…

[English version] Der von dem Verb edere (“vorlegen, vorzeigen, bekanntmachen”) abgeleitete Begriff e. hat im juristischen Sprachgebrauch mehrere Bedeutungen: (1) Die e. actionis (Dig. 2,13) bezeichnet die für die Rechtshängigkeit eines Prozesses im Formularverfahren erforderliche Bekanntmachung des Klägers gegenüber dem Beklagten, welche Klage(-formel) er gegen ihn anzustrengen gedenkt; sofern der Beklagte diese Formel annimmt ( accipere iudicium), ist damit zugleich die litis contestatio (Streitbezeugung) zustandegekommen. Lange Zeit h…

[English version] I. Alter Orient Eine Epoche, in der sich fast nur der Stärkere sein Recht zu nehmen vermochte, ist selbst in den bis in die Mitte des 3. Jt. zurückführenden Keilschriftrechten nicht festzustellen [7]. Allerdings ist v. a. den altbabylonischen Briefen und einigen Regelungen des Codex Ḫammurapi zu entnehmen, daß die Selbsthilfe eine wichtige, rechtlich anerkannte Rolle spielte [8]; ferner wird für das hethitische Recht kontrollierte Selbsthilfe vermutet [5]. Die Verbreitung des Wortes “Richter” (DI.KU5/ dajjānum) seit der altakkadischen Zeit (24./22. Jh…

[English version] Wörtlich “Rechtsprechung”. Solange die i. in verschiedene Verfahrensabschnitte (insbes. in iure, apud iudicem) aufgeteilt war, bezeichnet sie die hoheitlichen Machtbefugnisse, die dem röm. Gerichtsmagistrat zur Wahrnehmung der Rechtspflege übertragen sind. Während dieser Terminus urspr. für die Privatrechtspflege gebraucht wurde, wird er im 2. Jh.n.Chr. auch auf die Strafrechtspflege ausgedehnt sowie auf das Kognitionsverfahren ( cognitio ), in dessen Kontext i. die richterlichen Amtsbefugnisse insgesamt umschreibt - also auch die Befug…

[English version] Die schriftlich abgefaßte f. ist das Wesenselement desjenigen Prozeßtyps, der das Legisaktionenverfahren ( legis actio ) abgelöst hat (mittels der lex Aebutia, 2. Jh. v.Chr., sowie zweier leges Iuliae, 17 v.Chr.) und der demzufolge allg. als Formularprozeß bezeichnet wird. Unbeschadet einer wohl nur allmählichen Fortentwicklung zeichnet sich dieser klass. Verfahrenstyp in der späten Republik und der Prinzipatszeit gegenüber seinem Vorgänger durch seine weitaus größere Flexibilität und Anpassungsfähigkeit a…

[English version] ist im Legisaktionenverfahren der Schuldner, der nach seiner Verurteilung die Schuldsumme binnen 30 Tagen nicht zahlte und infolgedessen vom Gläubiger mittels manus iniectio dem Magistrat vorgeführt und von diesem dem Gläubiger durch addicere zur Vollstreckung überantwortet wurde. Sofern der Schuldner nicht spätestens vor dem Magistrat zahlte oder einen vindex stellte, konnte der Gläubiger den a. mit in sein Haus führen und ihn nach detaillierter Maßgabe der Zwölftafeln (3,3-5; Gell. 20,1,45) als einen nach wie vor Freien gefangen halten. Konnte der a. binne…

[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 o…

[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] [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] In most of the lawsuit formulae reported by Gaius (but also by others, e.g. Dig. 46,4,18,1) the blanket name Aulus Agerius (= is qui agit), stands for the plaintiff, where the actual name is to be inserted in the specific case (expressly the l. Rubria: CIL I 205), while the defendant is called Numerius Negidius (= is a quo numeratio postulatur et qui negat). However, all four names can be applicable in individual cases.  Formula Paulus, Christoph Georg (Berlin) Bibliography W. Kunkel, Röm. Rechtsgesch., 91980, 84.

[German version] Literally, ‘one who dispenses justice’, i.e. ‘judge’. Usually, this means the individual judge in Roman law ( iudex privatus; iudex unus) who in a separate stage of the proceeding that usually ended a legal dispute ( apud iudicem) conducts the deliberation of the evidence and passes a judgement roughly suggested by the  praetor in the first proceeding stage ( in iure,   ius ). While the term iudex was already exchangeable with that of   arbiter at the time of the Law of the Twelve Tables (5th cent. BC), the   recuperatores and   centumviri constitute sep…

[German version] From re-capere, literally 'to obtain back', for which purpose the recuperatores were originally appointed in support of Roman citizens within the framework of international legal relationships (Fest. 342 L.: reciperatio): they were meant to help the citizens get back what they had lost (probably above all in war) or had had illegally taken away from them. They then also came to a decision in the repetundae process ( repetundarum crimen ), in which it was a matter of the return of goods which the Roman magistrates had extorted in o…

[German version] I. In civil law Defensor is not a technical legal term for the defence counsel (but probably nevertheless thus in Quint. Inst. 5,3,13), but rather had various meanings, especially as the sponsor of the defendant primarily in a civil case, and here particularly of the absent defendant ( indefensus). To take on such a defence was the duty of a friend (Dig. 4,6,22 pr.). Termed defensor civitatis, he is also the judicial representative of corporations ( universitates, Dig. 3,4,1,3), above all of statutory public bodies (e.g. communities, provinces; cf. CIL X,1201 and passim)…

[German version] The term editio is derived from the verb edere (‘to present, to show, to announce’) and has several meanings within the legal realm: (1) The editio actionis (Dig. 2,13) refers to the announcement required, in order for a trial to be sub judice in the formulary procedure, from the plaintiff towards the defendant, stating the type of charge(-formula) the plaintiff intends to initiate against the defendant. As long as the defendant accepts the formula ( accipere iudicium), the   litis contestatio (attestation of conflict) is established. For a…

[German version] [1] Aphorism, v. Gnome [1] II A; Proverbs Aphorism, v. Gnome [1] II A; Proverbs Paulus, Christoph Georg (Berlin) [German version] [2] Legal verdict Literally etymologically derived from the root sin, the sense of something uttered; in Roman legal terminology, e.g. the sense of a private legal action (cf. e.g. Dig. 28,1,1 on a testament) or a law (cf. Dig. 23,2,44,5). Sententia in particular meant the verdict, in civil or criminal law, delivered by a judge ( iudex , arbiter ). In this sense, sententia was already used for the process of the legis actio …

[German version] is the formalised notice of a witness, associated with a tweak of the ear (Plin. HN 11,103), before the permitted use of force by the plaintiff against a defendant who does not comply with the in ius vocatio and does not offer any vindex. Antestatio is attested for the Twelve Tables (1. 1); it became superfluous, and yet was apparently retained, on introduction of the standard procedural   litis denuntiatio . -- Antestatus is a mancipatio witness, CIL 6.10239.  Vocatio in ius;  Denuntiatio Paulus, Christoph Georg (Berlin) Bibliography Wieacker, RRG, 448.

[German version] describes according to Gai. Inst. 4,15 an agreement of the parties to appear on the day after next before a iudex (Fest. 355,1; Prob. 4,9: in diem tertium sive perendinum; for Roman calculations of court dates cf. Gell. NA 10,24,9), as had already been provided for in the Twelve Tables. It did not require the form of a stipulation because the consequences of missing it were considered sufficient as a sanction. How the transition from the procedure in iure to apud iudicem specifically came about in the formular procedure is unclear, because the comperendinatio is no longer…

[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] (literally: ‘death of a lawsuit’). According to Gai. Inst. 4,104 a means introduced by the l. Iulia iudiciorum privatorum specially for the iudicium legitimum ( iudicium ), to limit the duration of lawsuits. Whereas all other lawsuits were limited by the period in office of the magistrates who appointed judges, ML was what happened when after 18 months there had been no judgment. From the lex Irnitana (ch. 91, l.2) it followed that this regulation was transferred - evidently by pretending that the municipal process was identical to the iudicium legitimum - also to this…

in Latin referred both to an order (e.g. the marching order or that of a legal process) as well as to groups or corporations, into which several or many persons were organized (also in the plural ordines), e.g. the Roman equites ( ordo equester). [German version] I. Procedural law In a procedural context the term ordo is traditionally used in the composition of the ' ordo iudiciorum' (Cod. Iust. 7,45,4). It signified the proper types of legal procedure (cf. still today: 'proper' jurisdiction) both of the formulary procedure ( formula ) as well as of the actions at law proceedings ( legis actio …

[German version] A court orator who appears in court as a champion of a party. Whilst Cic. De or. 1,202 uses the term in an obviously derogatory sense as being distinct from a true orator, and whilst a similar evaluation is evident in Gai. Dig. 1,2,1 ( causas dicentibus), causidicus is later applied in inscriptions (CIL 5,5894) and constitutions as a neutral vocational title alongside (Cod. Iust. 2,6,6) or identical (Cod. Theod. 2,10,5) to   advocatus . As such, a causidicus belonged to the state controlled professional association (Cod. Iust. 2,7,11, 1) of orators appearin…

[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] Literally ‘speaking law’. Where iurisdictio was split into various stages of procedure (in particular in iure, apud iudicem), it means the sovereign powers conferred on a Roman court magistrate for observing judicial practice. This term was originally used for private judicial practice, but in the 2nd cent. AD it was also extended to criminal judicial practice and to the procedure of cognition (  cognitio ), in the context of which iurisdictio describes the official judicial competences as a whole - in other words also the authority to pass judgemen…

[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 accipere iudicem in more ancient times the acceptance of a judge appointed by a magistrate, later replaced by the meaning of a judge agreed between the parties. The meaning ‘accept’ refers for instance to accipere legem the acceptance of a law by the people; accipere…

[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 citizens and included precise repetition of certain formulas as well as correctly performing the required actions (Gai. I…

[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 a…

[German version] (‘Dispute announcement’) is a form of the Roman procedural opening that was in use for a relatively short time (essentially in the 4th cent. AD) but then stopped being practised because of its ponderousness. Its characteristic feature is that the litis denuntiatio (LD) addressed by the plaintiff to the defendant in written form is served upon the latter not directly and immediately but on the basis of a statement of claim application ( postulatio simplex) with the permission or even with the help of the court. This form of opening therefore represents a…

[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 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 (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] [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 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] 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: 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] (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 made dependent on the first possible use and the term then proceeds as a continuum (e.g. praetorian lawsuits, Dig. 15,2,1 pr.), or the beginning is fixed and in the course of the term only those da…

[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 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] 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 person who guarantees the appearance of the defendant at a fixed later date; see lex XII tab. 1-4). The second context for this a measure of compulsion - also involving a vindex - was that of the enforcement of a confirmed debt ( legis actio per manus iniectionem, lex X…

[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] can in a legal context be any communication made to another person, orally or in writing, in pursuit of a legal objective. The person making the declaration and the person receiving it do not have to be private individuals but can also be office-holders or even the curule aediles' edict (Dig. 21,1,37). If such a communication is addressed to someone who is absent, it is termed detestatio (Dig. 50,39,2). The denuntiatio can have an informative or communicative character, as for example the requisite (in late antiquity, threefold) notification of a pr…

[German version] Arbitration, unlike criminal and civil jurisdiction, which operate with the force of the state, is invoked voluntarily by the disputing parties. It has neither been proven nor completely refuted that because of this lack of state influence arbitration represents the beginning of all jurisdiction (thus for Rome esp. [1]). In Roman sources in any case arbitration has an independent position alongside all three types of state trial (  ordo). There was also arbitration already in Greece (see   diaitētai [1]). The Roman compromissum (agreement of the parties to subm…

[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 used by the Romans mainly when interpreting a will (Inst. Ius. 2,20,30) and which is still current today. In the context of civil proceedings demonstratio, set out at the beginning of a large number of legal arguments, refers to the concise exposition of the circumstances of the disputed issue (Gai. Inst. …

[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…