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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 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 ( …

[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 crimi…

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[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 the case and the defendant obtained (comparable to a purchaser) creditworthy property. Sentencing in kind was introduced at the latest by Justinian (Inst. Just. Epit. 4,6,32). In so far as in criminal proceedings a duty of damage compensation was attached to the crime, its e…

[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 ( …

[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 …

[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 ( …

[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 possibilit…

[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 agenda’ [1. 58] for the coming term of office. The word suggests an originally oral announcement [2. 178], but the historically documented form is a recording on an   album (‘white wooden plate’) at the magistrate's office. Literary tradition refers to edicts by   consules ,   aediles ,   praetores , provincial governors, tribuni plebis (  tribunus ),   censores …

[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 distinguish…

[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…

[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 ( cognitio ). Its peculiarity consisted in the fact that the decisive legal issue (i.e. not also the correctness of the facts) was clarified in advance for the specific case by the princeps, by means of a written response ( rescriptum ) to the written enquiry of the party who would henceforth be the plaintiff, with the consequence …

[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 hus…

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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…