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[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 …

[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 ha…

[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. communi…

[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:…

[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 some…

[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 retaine…

[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…

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[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…

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[German version] ( surety, bail). A legal transaction agreed in a stipulatio , by which one party in a Roman formulary procedure (Procedural law IV.) commits itself to appear at a certain location in order to enable legal proceedings to take place. This self-committal replaced the practice of providing guarantors ( vades…

[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 sl…

[German version] [1] Public announcement by magistrates Edictum (from edicere) is a binding public announcement by Roman office bearers (  magistratus ), which presented either concrete orders or a ‘governmental…

[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 …

[German version] In Roman law, the 'call' (in the sense of summons) to stand trial. The VII addressed the problem, fundamental in every jurisdiction (but most particularly at early stages of development), of how to bring an accused person before the court: as long as no direct compulsion is available or permitted, sanctions with at least indirect effect must accompany the summons. Both variants are found in the development of Roman law: for the oldest type of trial, the legis actio (action under the (XII-Table) law), the Twelve Tables (tab. 1,1 ff.; Tabulae duodecim, c.450 BC) prescribes that the accuser should first informally invite the accused to appear voluntarily; if this request failed, and the accused offered no sureties to appear (Vindex [1]), the accuser could use force (Manus iniectio). In the classical Roman formula trial (Formula), the …

[German version] This type of Roman trial developed from the reign of Hadrian (2nd cent. AD) as a special form of the civil inquiry of cognizance ( …

[German version] [1] Legal term There are many different senses of deductio in specialized legal language: in civil case-law the expression in iudicium deducere usually indicates the transition of the dispute to the judgement stage, and so approximately corresponds to the modern concept of pendency. Deductio in domum is the ceremonial introduction of a wife into her husband's house (Dig. 23,2,5). A further frequent use of deductio is to denote the ‘deduction’ of specific components of a debt owed to a provider of services: for example the deduction of costs (D…

[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…

I. Archaeology and urban studies [German version] A. Definition and Function Latin term for market, market place; rarely also the forecourt of a tomb (in the meaning of Greek drómos, e.g. Cic. Leg. 2,61) or part of a wine press (Varro, Rust. 1,54; Columella 11,2,71). As the mercantile and administrative centre of a Roman city ( Town/City), the forum, which took the form of a large open space framed by buildings, was essentially the equivalent of the Greek  agora. A location at the intersection of the   decumanus and   cardo in the city centre is the rule in …