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[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…

[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 …

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[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 courts composed of several judges (Dig. 42,1,3…

[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 offici…

[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 …

[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…

[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 whic…

[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 pla…

[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 …

[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 ( ext…

[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 the event of success, the…

[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 someo…

[German version] [1] (rhetoric) v. Actio [1] (rhetoric) v. Actio [1] Paulus, Christoph Georg (Berlin) [German version] [2] (legal) Declaration…

[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, . …

[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 that was left to him was a plea for mercy, deprecatio…

[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 th…

[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…