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[English version] Das ‘S.-r. R. ist eine spätant. Rechts-Slg., die in mehreren syrischen, arabischen und armenischen Versionen verschiedenen Umfanges überl. ist. Sie war im Gebiet der oriental. Kirchen verbreitet, enthielt aber weltliches röm. Recht. Das Interesse am “Reichsrecht” in den östl. Prov. des röm. Reiches zeigt sich überlieferungsgesch. zunächst an den Sententiae Syriacae, einer Paraphrase kaiserlicher Gesetze, v. a. aus der Zeit des Diocletianus mit dem Schwerpunkt in den J. 293/4 n. Chr. Die Übers. ins Syrische erfolgte nicht unmitt…

[English version] Die K., lat crux oder damnatio in crucem (“Verurteilung zur K.”), griech. in hell. Zeit ἀνασταύρωσις/ anastaúrōsis (das bei Hdt. 3,125 und wohl auch noch bei Xenophon [10] von Ephesos 4,2 aber eher “Pfählen” bedeutet), war nur eine von mehreren Arten der Vollstreckung einer Todesstrafe (II.) im röm. Reich. Sie kommt dort verm. aus der Gefahrenabwehr gegenüber Sklaven im Rahmen der coercitio (“Zwangsgewalt”) durch die tresviri [1] capitales. Die K. hatte vielleicht orientalische und punische Vorbilder und war zur Zeit der K. Jesu eine typische Ma…

[English version] Im röm. Recht die strafbare Handlung der Kindesunterschiebung, partus suppositus . Schiemann, Gottfried

[English version] Der lat. Ausdruck für den Eunuchen, aber auch für den unabhängig von einer Kastration ( castratio ) nicht Zeugungsfähigen (Ulp. Dig. 50,16,128). Für den s. galten im röm. Recht familien- und erbrechtliche Besonderheiten: Während aus dem 2. Jh. n. Chr. die Regelung überliefert ist, daß der s. generell zur Adoption fähig ist (Gai. inst. 1,103), wird unter Iustinianus (6. Jh n. Chr.) differenziert: Die ältere Regel gilt nur noch für den s. aus natürlichen Gründen, nicht für Kastrierte (Inst. Iust. 1,11,9). Dies entspricht einer generellen Tendenz g…

(‘Zwölf Tafeln oder vollständiger lex duodecim tabularum, ‘Gesetz der Zwölf Tafeln), die wichtigste Gesetzgebung der röm. Republik. Sie haben ihren Namen davon, daß man sie angeblich auf 12 eichene ( roboreas, wie es richtiger statt eboreas, “elfenbeinern”, bei Pomp. Dig. 1,2,2,4 heißen müßte) Tafeln aufschrieb. Inschr. sind sie aber nicht überl.; Text und Inhalt müssen aus der ant. Lit. rekonstruiert werden. Aus der Schilderung des Gesetzgebungsvorganges bei ant. Schriftstellern (v. a. Liv. 3,32 ff.) läßt sich ihre Entstehung um 450 v. Chr. vermuten. [English version] I. Anl…

[English version] (wörtl. “das Aufgeschriebene”), bezeichnet im juristischen Bereich alle röm. Urkunden, und (mit der Zunahme der Schriftlichkeit) seit dem Prinzipat, v. a. aber in der Spätant., u. a. das Testament, den Schuldschein ( cheirógraphon ), überhaupt den Vertrag, aber auch eine Rechtsansicht oder eine rechtliche Entscheidung, soweit diese schriftlich niedergelegt waren. In einem engeren Sinne - wohl daher, daß die röm. Steuerpächter ( publicani ) das Geschäft zur Überlassung von öffentlichem Weideland an private (Unter-) pächter aufschrieben - war s. das Entgel…

[English version] ist in der Ant. sowohl Gegenstand praktischer Politik (Rechtskodifikation) als auch theoretischer (politikwiss. und rechtsphilos.) Reflexion. Letztere wurde von den Griechen erstmals (als nomothesía) thematisiert und sogleich auf einen Höhepunkt der Geistesgeschichte geführt, v. a. in Platons [1] Spätwerk über die Gesetze ( Nómoi). Platons Auffassung von G. dürfte, vermittelt wohl auch durch Cicero mit seiner Theorie der G. ( De legibus), nachhaltigen Einfluß auf die G. der röm. Kaiserzeit und hierdurch auf die europäische Rechtswissensch…

[English version] [1] s. Status [1] A. s. Status [1] A. Schiemann, Gottfried [English version] [2] juristischer Ausdruck T. iuris (“Übertragung des Rechts”) kommt in der berühmten Sentenz zum Ausdruck: ‘Niemand kann mehr Recht auf einen anderen übertragen, als er selbst hat’ ( nemo plus iuris transferre potest quam ipse habet, Ulp. Dig. 50,17,54). Dieser “Merksatz” vom Anf. des 3. Jh. n. Chr. spiegelt die Vorstellung des klass. röm. Rechts wider, daß subjektive Rechte nicht - wie in der früheren Gedankenwelt - in der Person jedes Inhabers neu e…

[English version] (συνάλλαγμα, wörtl.: “der gegenseitige Austausch”). Griech. Ausdruck für den (Geschäfts-) Verkehr, zuweilen auch für jede rechtliche Verpflichtung, unabhängig von ihrer Begründung durch Delikt oder Vertrag; eine präzise juristische Bed. hat er nicht. Dennoch nehmen die röm. Juristen M. Antistius [II 3] Labeo (um Christi Geburt) und Titius Aristo (E. 1. Jh. n. Chr.) das griech. Wort s. im Lat. auf, um damit eine Vereinbarung zu bezeichnen, die für beide Partner Verpflichtungen begründet. Dies können insbes. auch sog. Innominatverträ…

[English version] Die Auflösung der Ehe durch Sch. scheint in der Ant. von Mesopotamien bis Rom überall möglich gewesen zu sein, freilich nicht immer für Männer und Frauen in gleicher Weise. So war zwar in Äg. im 1. Jt. v. Chr. Frauen ebenso wie Männern die Erklärung der Sch. möglich; im altjüd. Recht wie wohl auch in Mesopotamien war hingegen nur die Verstoßung durch den Mann bekannt. Das jüd. Recht knüpfte die Auflösung der Ehe jedenfalls in späterer, talmudischer Zeit (Halakha) zudem an Sch.-Gr…

[English version] Von einem S. im technischen Sinne kann in histor. Perspektive nur gesprochen werden, wenn sich ein Bereich der Strafverfolgung im öffentlichen (staatlichen) Interesse (Strafe, Strafrecht) von der Rechtsverfolgung im privaten Interesse (einschließlich etwaiger Privatstrafen, lat. poena ) unterscheiden läßt. Die Tatsache, daß z. B. die private Rache durch den Zwang zur Durchführung eines gerichtlichen Verfahrens kanalisiert wird, begründet noch keinen S.: Zur Wahrung des öffentlichen Friedens und d…

[English version] (auch Vindex: Pomp. Dig. 1,2,2,24). Eine Legendengestalt der röm. Geschichtsschreibung, z. B. Liv. 2,4,5-10. V. soll als Sklave eine Verschwörung der Tarquinii (vgl. Tarquinius [7; 12]) zur Wiederherstellung der Königsherrschaft im J. 509 v. Chr. entdeckt haben. Zur Belohnung soll er freigelassen und in den röm. Bürgerstand aufgenommen worden sein. Möglicherweise diente diese Legende zur “histor.” Erklärung dafür, daß die Freilassung nach röm. Recht zum Erwerb des Bürgerrechts füh…

[English version] (wörtl. “Schläge”), z. B. mit dem Stock ( ferula) oder Peitschen ( flagella), waren in Rom ein Mittel der Züchtigung ( castigatio). Sie kamen vor als eigenständige (Polizei-)Strafe v. a. gegenüber Sklaven und Angehörigen der Unterschicht ( humiliores, s. honestiores ) im Rahmen der Polizeigewalt der Magistrate ( coercitio ), insbes. der tresviri capitales in republikanischer Zeit, dann des Kaisers und seiner Beauftragten sowie der Provinzgouverneure. V. waren ferner - wie von der Geißelung Jesu bekannt - im röm. Strafrecht eine “Nebenstrafe”,…

[English version] Der S., von neulat. suicidium (“Selbsttötung”) als Parallelbildung zu homicidium , war in der griech. und röm. Ant. Gegenstand lebhafter intellektueller Auseinandersetzung: In schematischer Gegenüberstellung kann man sagen, daß die Anhänger und Nachfolger Platons, zumal Aristoteles [6] und der Neuplatonismus den S. verurteilten, während schon einige Sophisten (Sophistik) und erst recht der Kynismus den S. als Ausdruck der individuellen Freiheit hinnahmen, ja sogar ausdrü…

[English version] Im röm. Gerichtsverfahren der legis actio sacramento in rem (“gesetzlichen Klage auf die Sache”) der Stab, der symbolisch an den Sklaven oder die Sache angelegt wurde, um den Anspruch des Klägers und den Gegenanspruch des Beklagten auf die Sache sinnfällig auszudrücken. Die Etym. von v. ist umstritten (dazu neuestens [1. 47 f.12]). Am wahrscheinlichsten erscheint der Zusammenhang mit vim dicere (“behaupten, die - rechtmäßige - Gewalt über die Sache zu haben”). Rei vindicatio Schiemann, Gottfried Bibliography 1 A. Bürge, Röm. Privatrecht, 1999.

[English version] Das in der mod. Lit. sogenannte Z. ist eine Anordnung des röm. Kaisers darüber, welche Juristen früherer Jh. bei der Rechtsfindung herangezogen und zitiert werden durften. Mit der Krise des röm. Reiches in der Mitte des 3. Jh. n. Chr. verlor auch die röm. Rechtswissenschaft ( iuris prudentia ) die polit., sozialen und wirtschaftlichen Bedingungen für eine produktive Fortsetzung. Die Rechts-Lit. seit dem 1. Jh. v. Chr., dem Beginn ihrer “klass.” Periode, wurde damit aus einem Fundus für den ideellen Diskurs…

[English version] Seit Beginn ant. Staatlichkeit gab es die Institution des G. Ob und wo eine Phase der Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit voranging, läßt sich nicht mehr erschließen. In den Urkunden des Alten Orients sind G. vielfach belegt [1; 2; 3]. Der jeweilige Stadtfürst oder König dürfte auch Gerichtsherr gewesen sein; daneben gab es aber in Mesopotamien auch lokale Gerichtsbarkeit (d. h. innerhalb bestimmter Gruppen) [2]. Die Schreiber waren aufgrund ihrer Ausbildung für die Tätigkeit als Richter geei…

[English version] Lat. Ausdruck und t.t. des röm. Rechts für die Witwe (II.). Schiemann, Gottfried

[English version] Die V. wurde als schwere Persönlichkeitsverletzung sowohl im griech. (att.) Recht als auch im röm. Recht verfolgt. In Athen dürfte die V. unter den Tatbestand der kakēgoría (vgl. auch loidoría ) gefallen sein und zu einer Geldbuße auf private Klage hin geführt haben. Im röm. Recht war die V. ebenfalls ein Privatdelikt als eine Ausprägung der iniuria (Rechtsverletzung). Mit der V. verwandt war möglicherweise das carmen famosum (“Spottgedicht”) der 12 Tafeln ( tabulae duodecim ). Eine qualifizierte Art der V. war die röm. calumnia (falsche Ansc…

[English version] (“Strafe”, = St.) wird im röm. Recht ähnlich wie poena verwendet, jedoch beschränkt auf die “öffentliche” St. (Strafrecht) und spezieller die Todesstrafe. Darüber, wie s. (urspr. wohl: Bitte um Vergebung) die Bed. einer St. erh. hat, sind nur Spekulationen möglich. Die Zwölf Tafeln (5. Jh. v. Chr.) kennen zwar die Todes-St. in einigen Fällen, jedoch überwiegend als private St.; sie wird in den Berichten über das Gesetz nicht als s. bezeichnet. Mehrfach ist in den Quellen von einem s. more maiorum (“St. nach der Vätersitte”) die Rede (Nachweise [1. 204-207…

[English version] (wörtl. etwa “das den Rücken Wenden”). Im röm. Recht die Abwendung des privaten Anklägers im Strafverfahren ( accusatio , delatio nominis ) von der durch ihn eingeleiteten Verfolgung des Angeklagten. Die t. führte seit dem SC Turpillianum (61 n. Chr.) zu einem Strafverfahren gegen den Ankläger selbst. Bei ungerechtfertigtem Rücktritt wurde die t. mit einer Geldbuße bestraft (Dig. 47,15,3,3). Darüber hinaus erlitt der private Ankläger den Verlust der Amtsfähigkeit und bürgerlichen Ehre ( infamia , Dig. 48,16,2). Der vom (zurückgetret…

[English version] Das U. aufgrund gerichtlicher Verfahren wurde in der griech. und röm. Ant. ganz durch die vorangehende Klage oder Anklage bestimmt, z. B. in Athen von díkē [2] (Zivilklage) und graphḗ [1] (Strafklage). Zur Findung des U. war dann nichts zu begründen; nur die Stimmen im Entscheidungsgremium waren auszuzählen. Der “Urteiler” ( iudex ) im röm. Recht hatte im wesentlichen nur Beweise zu erheben. Die rechtliche Würdigung war vorweggenommen mit der Zulassung der Klage ( actio [2]), v. a. durch den Praetor. Prozeßrecht; Strafe, Strafrecht Schiemann, Gottfried

[English version] Der t.t. V. des mod. Rechts ist geprägt durch das röm. legatum , dessen wörtliche Übers. “V.” ist. Das röm. Recht unterschied bei der testamentarischen Regelung der Vermögensnachfolge nach dem Tod zw. der Einsetzung zum vollgültigen Rechtsnachfolger als Erbe ( heres, s. dazu Erbrecht III.) - bzw. mehrere Erben - und Zuwendung einzelner Gegenstände als V. Andere ant. Rechte enthalten keine vergleichbare Konstruktion. Fideicommissum; Testament [2] IV. Schiemann, Gottfried

[English version] ist der vielleicht besser als “Soldatengüter” zu bezeichnende Landbesitz, an den sich mil. Pflichten knüpften: sei es der Waffendienst des Inhabers, seien es die Stellung und Ausrüstung von Soldaten (gleichsam als Stellvertreter des Inhabers). S. in diesem Sinne kamen insbes. im Alten Orient vor. Sie sind relativ gut überl. für das Perserreich der Achaimenidai [2] (6.-4. Jh. v. Chr.) und für das Hethitische Reich (Ḫattusa II.); auch äg. Militärkolonien bestanden wohl aus aktiven …

[English version] Im röm. Recht der t.t. für den Schatz, den jemand findet (Inst. Iust. 2,1,39). Der spätklass. Jurist Iulius [IV 16] Paulus (Anf. 3. Jh. n. Chr.) verwendet dafür thensaurus, den er definiert als ‘ein lange zurückliegendes Weglegen von Geld, an das keine Erinnerung mehr vorhanden ist, so daß es keinen Eigentümer mehr hat’ ( vetus quaedam depositio pecuniae, cuius non existat memoria, ut iam dominium non habeat, Dig. 41,1,31,1). Als th. wurde aber nicht nur Geld, sondern jeder Wertgegenstand angesehen. Warum man dafür ein griech. Lehnwort gebrauch…

[English version] Die V. ersetzte in der griech.-röm. Antike weitgehend die Todesstrafe für die Angehörigen der Oberschicht, kam aber wie im attischen ostrakismós auch als selbständige Strafe vor. Zu den Einzelheiten für Griechenland, insbesondere Athen, s. phygḗ , aeiphygía , apeniautismós , für Rom s. exilium , deportatio , relegatio . Schiemann, Gottfried

[English version] Die V. spielte sowohl im attischen Recht (vgl. epítropos [2]) als auch im röm. Recht (vgl. tutela [1]) eine wichtige Rolle. Sie bestand nicht nur gegenüber Kindern und Heranwachsenden, soweit sie nicht unter patria postestas (“väterlicher Gewalt”) waren, sondern in weitem Umfang auch als Geschlechts-V. gegenüber Frauen ( kýrios II., tutela [1] III.). Schiemann, Gottfried

[English version] (die “Schätzung”) ist im röm. Formularprozeß ( formula ) die Höchstgrenze, bis zu der der iudex (“Richter”) nach der Anweisung des Praetors zur Verurteilung ( condemnatio ) die Urteilssumme festsetzen durfte. Die t. kommt typischerweise vor: (1) bei der Haftung des Herrn mit dem Eigengut ( peculium ) des Sklaven oder Haussohnes aus der actio de peculio oder aus der actio de in rem verso wegen Vermögensvermehrungen durch das Handeln solcher Gewaltunterworfener ( patria potestas ), (2) bei der Einrede des Schuldners wegen einer Notlage ( beneficium competentiae) und …

[English version] (wörtl. “Fesseln”). Schon nach den XII Tafeln (tab. 3,3; tabulae duodecim ) konnte der Gläubiger zum Zwecke der Zwangsvollstreckung den Schuldner in v. legen. Damit wurde eine Schuldhaft begründet. Sie zielte zunächst auf die Erzwingung der Schuldzahlung durch den Schuldner selbst oder einen Dritten, war aber auch Durchgangsstadium dazu, über den Schuldner persönlich nach Ablauf einer Frist zu verfügen, ihn z. B. in die Sklaverei zu verkaufen oder ihn in Schuldknechtschaft die Summe, zu der er verurte…

[English version] Das Verlöbnis im röm. Recht. Es hat seine Bezeichnung offenbar daher, daß in früherer Zeit die Ehe wechselseitig durch förmliche stipulatio (oder sinngleich sponsio ) der Väter beider Brautleute versprochen wurde. In der späten Republik und im Prinzipat waren die s. frei widerruflich, und es konnte nicht auf Eingehung der Ehe geklagt werden. Auch indirekte Bindungen (z. B. Vertragsstrafen, Dig. 45,1,134 pr.) waren nichtig. Schiemann, Gottfried Bibliography Honsell/Mayer-Maly/Selb, 392 f.  Treggiari, 145-160.

(wörtl. “Zeichen”, Pl. signa). [English version] [1] (Name) s. Supernomen (Name) s. Supernomen Schiemann, Gottfried [English version] [2] (Militärwesen) s. Feldzeichen; Signale (Militärwesen) s. Feldzeichen; Signale Schiemann, Gottfried [English version] [3] Brandzeichen für Sklaven Brandzeichen, mit dem bei den Römern Sklaven kenntlich gemacht wurden (Sklaverei). Dies kam zur Verhinderung der Flucht und bei Diebstahlsgefahr vor sowie generell bei Straftätern, die zur Arbeit im Bergwerk ( in metallum) verurteilt worden und dadurch zu Sklaven geworden waren. We…

[English version] I. Überblick Als ein eigenes Rechtsgebiet ist das V. in der frühen Neuzeit (v. a. durch Hugo Grotius, 1583-1645) etabliert worden. Dafür hat sich der aus dem röm. Recht stammende Begriff des ius (A.2.) gentium durchgesetzt, der in der Ant. nicht V. bezeichnete, sondern diejenigen Vorstellungen vom Recht überhaupt, die - wie man annahm - allen Völkern gemeinsam waren. Dazu gehörten auch Grundsätze, die dem V. im engeren Sinn zuzuordnen sind, wie die Unverletzlichkeit diplomatischer Vertreter (Dig. 50,7,18). Einen…

[English version] (wörtl. “Ehetafeln”). In Urkunden niedergelegte Eheverträge des röm. Rechts seit der Kaiserzeit (vgl. Tac. ann. 6,45,5 zu Messalina [2] und Silius 48 n. Chr.). Die Ehe selbst war nach röm. Recht kein (förmlicher) Vertrag, sondern Geschlechtsgemeinschaft mit dem Willen zum ehelichen Leben ( affectio maritalis). Gegenstand der t.n. waren hingegen die mit der Ehe verbundenen Vermögensfragen, v. a. das Versprechen der Mitgift ( dos ) an den Mann zur Versorgung der Frau, in der Spätant. wohl auch das Versprechen von Schenkungen des Mannes vor oder wegen der Ehe ( donati…

[English version] (“Vermögensverkauf”) ist das Modell für die röm. Vermögensvollstreckung ( missio in possessionem ) gegen Schuldner im röm. Recht. Blieb jemand, insbes. ein Steuerpächter ( publicani ), dem röm. Staat etwas schuldig, wurde sein ganzes Vermögen veräußert. Der Erwerber mußte die Schuld übernehmen. Der Verkaufspreis ging an den Staatsschatz ( aerarium ). Die s. b. fand auch bei den Bürgen ( praedes) statt, die der Staatsschuldner vielfach beizubringen hatte. Schulden Schiemann, Gottfried Bibliography M. Kaser, K. Hackl, Das röm. Zivilprozeßrecht 21996, 389 f…

[German version] In Roman law, legally incapable of being a witness ( testis). The Inst. Iust. (2,10,6) lists as intestabiles: women, minors, slaves, the dumb, the deaf, the mentally ill, legally incapacitated wastrels and those who had been declared improbus (dishonourable) and intestabilis by a special law. Legal arrangements of this kind result, for example, (according to Ulp. Dig. 47,10,5,9) from the lex Cornelia de iniuriis against authors or distributors of articles with offensive content or (according to Cassius Dig. 1,9,2) from the lex Iulia de repetundis against those re…

[German version] In the confusio (the ‘merging’) the same person is both debtor and creditor or owner and holder of a limited material right, e.g. a usufruct. In Roman law confusio led to the extinction of the claim or the right. The late classic jurists (3rd cent. AD) occasionally use the term consolidatio for confusio without creating material distinctions. The effect of the confusio could not be prevented by the will of the parties. However, the Roman jurists occasionally assume a duty to refound the claim or right. The opinion of the Proculians ( Law schools) that the   noxalis actio …

[German version] While the word pater familias indicates a clearly defined legal status, the designation of the Roman mother of a family is a social rather than a legal one. Originally, MF was the honorary title for a married woman living in the → manus (marital control) of her husband, with whom she had children. Her social position was, in contrast with (and in compensation for) her legal status ( Manus), a high one. She had precedence over all other members of the household apart from her husband. By the time the manus marriage had fallen into disuse, the term MF - literally the mot…

[German version] (more complete: minores viginti quinque annis; singular: minor) in Roman law those under the age of 25. In a narrower (and originally technical) meaning, persons aged 15 to 24 were called minores, in a broader sense anyone who had not reached the age of majority (at least 25 in Roman law). The legal regulations for minores in the narrow sense concerned their ability to enter into contracts and other legal transactions (contractual capacity). This must be distinguished from legal capacity, that is the ability to establish and acquire r…

[German version] [1] see Status [1] A. see Status [1] A. Schiemann, Gottfried (Tübingen) [German version] [2] Legal expression Translatio iuris ('transfer of rights') finds expression in the famous phrase: "A person cannot transfer to another person rights greater than those he has himself" (' nemo plus iuris transferre potest quam ipse habet', Ulp. Dig. 50,17,54). This formula from the early 3rd cent. AD reflects the concept in classical Roman law that subjective rights do not emerge anew in the person receiving them -- as was assumed in the ear…

[German version] A. Overview Novellae is the abbreviation for the Latin novellae leges (‘new laws’, also Greek nearaí diatáxeis). In general, it refers to the legislation of the emperors in Late Antiquity, enacted chronologically after the official collections of the Codices Theodosianus and Iustinianus ( codex II.C.). In a narrower sense, it refers to the novellae of Iustinianus [1], which in modern editions of the Corpus iuris constitute the fourth and last part of this 6th-cent. collection. In contrast to the other parts ( Institutiones Iustiniani, Digesta, Codex Iustinianus), h…

[German version] is the unanimous will of the parties of a contract (  contractus ). In Roman law it was the basis of the binding character of buying (  emptio venditio ), contracts of lease, work and employment (  locatio conductio ), of commission (  mandatum ) and association (  societas ). The ‘invention of’ consensus as the central element of a system of civil law is one of the ‘grandest juridical achievements, and one of the most influential for further development’ [1. 180]. The liability resulting from consensus necessitates neither a specific form nor an advance nor perfo…

[German version] According to Gai. Inst. 1,112, the term confarreatio is based on the fact that during this religious act a farreus panis (a bread made of emmer but not spelt) was sacrificed by the bridal couple to Iuppiter farreus (  far ). Apart from the   coemptio and a one-year valid duration of the marriage ( usus), the confarreatio was the third option of establishing the   manus (male power) over the wife. This effect was probably an ancillary result of the confarreatio while the highly festive conclusion of the marriage probably took centre stage in the ceremony. It to…

[German version] In Gai. Inst. 3,88 contractus constitutes, with delicts, one of the two higher branches of the whole Roman law of obligations. This has led many analysts to translate contractus simply as ‘contracts’. Originally, however, contractus was really not limited to a commitment as a contract but actually meant literally only ‘to incur (an obligation)’. In the period of the principate contractus was indeed understood to be linked to an agreement ( consensus, conventio) (Dig. 2,14,1,3). Even then, however, not every agreement would necessarily lead to a contractus. As no co…

(Literally 'sign', pl. signa). [German version] [1] (Name) see Supernomen (Name) see Supernomen Schiemann, Gottfried (Tübingen) [German version] [2] (Military matters) see Ensigns; Signals (Military matters) see Ensigns; Signals Schiemann, Gottfried (Tübingen) [German version] [3] Brand mark for slaves The brand mark by which the Romans identified slaves (Slavery). It was used to prevent escape and deter theft, and for criminals in general if they were condemned to work in the mines ( in metallum), thus becoming slaves. Those who had been branded in this manner could …

[German version] A term in the Law of the Twelve Tables ( c. 450 BC,   Tabulae duodecim ). Its significance in legal history is still very disputed. Iurgium is a milder form of dispute than the litigation before court (  lis ); otherwise a general term for a dispute. It is conceivable that iurgium meant an out-of-court settlement, perhaps with the support of the pontifices. In the classical period (1st cent. BC - 3rd cent. AD) this form of resolution had long fallen out of use. Schiemann, Gottfried (Tübingen) Bibliography M. Kaser, K. Hackl, Das röm. Zivilprozeßrecht, 21997, 58).

[German version] (‘One who apportions endowments’). From the 2nd cent. BC or earlier war spoils of the Roman state were occasionally distributed among the people of Rome. In the absence of an official ‘Body of Apportionment’ it fell to private citizens, divisores, to assume that function. By the end of the Republic this had led to a system of canvassing that has been described in detail in Cicero Planc. 48ff. Divisores promised in single   tribus a ‘reward’ to a sufficient number of tribus members in the event of a particular candidate being elected. If the tribus was won over and the cand…

('Twelve Tables', or, more completely, lex duodecim tabularum, 'Law of the Twelve Tables'), the most important legislation of the Roman Republic. The name originates in the tradition that they were written on twelve oak ( roboreas, as it ought to read, rather than eboreas, 'ivory', in Pompon. Dig. 1,2,2,4) tablets. However, they have not survived in epigraphic form. Text and content must be reconstructed from ancient literature. It may be assumed, in the light of accounts of the legislative process in ancient authors (esp. Liv. 3,32 ff.), that they were written around 450 BC. …

[German version] The childless who, according to Roman law dating from the time of Augustus, suffered certain legal penalties: to promote a higher birthrate, women who had many children benefited through the lex Iulia de maritandis ordinibus and the lex Papia ( ius liberorum ), while on the flip-side childless people (men and women) were restricted in their capacity ( capacitas) to accept inheritances and legacies: what was left to orbi under a will, was halved (in the case of a surviving spouse reduced to a tenth). The remainder, known as the caducum (a lapsed inher…

[German version] In Rome the suspension of judicial activity generally ordered by a magistrate (the highest present in Rome) with an edict and associated with further restrictions of transactions, e.g. the closure of the state treasury (  aerarium , Cic. Har. resp. 55) or the stores in the Forum (Liv. 9,7,8). By the late Republic this order had to be preceded by a resolution of the Senate (Liv. 3,3,6). The iustitium was not solely an emergency measure but already in the Republican period could be caused by public mourning over a military defeat (Liv. 9,7,8) or the…

[German version] has two meanings in Roman law: one describing a ‘measure’ primarily of land, the other - according to the matter in hand - the same as the modern concept of an instruction (on a gift or testamentary benefit). M. agri (the land measure) was the subject of a well-known action from Paul. sent. 2,17,4  ( actio de modo agri): if the price of a piece of land was calculated according to its area, the purchaser could demand from the seller double the proportional price as a private penalty, if it transpired that the area was smaller than stated.…

[German version] A Roman forfeiture or cancellation agreement, it was usually a unilateral (hence: lex ) clause inserted in conditions of sale (see emptio venditio D), or a pledge ( fiducia , pignus ). Upon purchase the clause granted the vendor a right of rescission if the purchaser did not pay the purchase price - for instance, in the event of an agreement for payment in instalments or a date of payment. If the vendor exercised the right of rescission, he could request the return of the sold property by means of the actio venditi (according to the Sabinians) or by means of an actio in factum (acco…

[German version] Someone who has something to announce or proclaim. In a narrower sense the term is applied to those who, whether as a private individual or on behalf of an office, report a criminal offence. Denuntiator is then very often synonymous with   delator . The excesses of the latter had a lasting effect on the public opinion on denunciation. Denuntiatores crop up in Rome even as junior officials in the role of heralds. For similar functions in Greek law   menysis ,   sykophantes . Schiemann, Gottfried (Tübingen)

[German version] In Rome being eligible to marry ( conubium) was a prerequisite for a legally valid marriage. Both partners had to have the conubium: Conubium est uxoris iure ducendae facultas. Conubium habent cives Romani cum civibus Romanis: cum Latinis autem et peregrinis ita, si concessum sit. Cum servis nullum est conubium (‘ Conubium is the legal ability to marry a woman. Roman citizens have the conubium to marry each other but, only by special dispensation, to marry Latins and other foreigners . There is no conubium with slaves’; Ulp. 5,3-5). That description omits to mentio…

[German version] Suicide, from neo-Latin suicidium ('self-killing'), a parallel formation on homicidium , was a subject of lively intellectual debate in Greek and Roman Antiquity: in schematic comparison it can be said that the followers of and successors to Plato, as well as Aristotle [6] and Neo-Platonism, condemned suicide, whereas some Sophists, and the Cynics (Cynicism) even more, acknowledged suicide as an expression of individual freedom, even expressly endorsing it. This point of …

[German version] The institution of the law court (LC) has existed from the beginning of state control in antiquity. It is no longer possible to deduce whether and where a phase of arbitration preceded it. In the documents of the Ancient Orient LCs are attested on many occasions [1; 2; 3]. The respective city prince or king was probably also the master of the court although in Mesopotamia there was also local jurisdiction (i.e. within certain groups) [2]. The scribes were suited for work as judg…

[German version] The ‘Basilics’, after the Greek term basiliká (n.pl.: ‘imperial’; sc. law books), are a compilation in Greek of the most important parts of the   Corpus iuris (  Digesta and   Codex (II)Iustinianus, as well as extracts from   Institutiones and   Novellae C.) from the time of the Byzantine emperor Leo(n) [9] VI (886-912). For five-and-a-half centuries the Basilics secured the continuance of Roman law in Byzantium (I. B.3). At the same time, they are an invaluable secondary source for the survival of the Corpus iuris, above all the Digesta (A.3). The Basilics also f…

[German version] in Roman court proceedings is the opposite of ‘condemnation’ (  condemnatio ). In civil proceedings the formula in which the praetors set down the programme for the iudex ends stereotypically with the judicial command ... condemnato. Si non paret, absolvito. Both absolutio and condemnatio were final and absolute, in other words the decision -- apart from the special case of   appellatio -- was irrevocable, the dispute was definitively concluded and the exceptio rei iudicatae (demurrer of legal force) stood in the way of a new action. The saying omnia iudicia absolutor…

[German version] (relations by marriage). Gai. Inst. 1,63 speaks of adfinitas in connection with the statement: Item (scil. uxorem ducere non licet) eam, quae nobis quondam socrus, aut nurus, aut priuigna, aut nouerca fuit. According to this in classical Roman law (possibly since Augustus' marriage legislation) marriage to mother-in-law, daughter-in-law, stepdaughter and stepmother is forbidden. This impediment to marriage was extended in late antiquity to relations by marriage of the first degree in the collateral line (brother's wife, wife's sister) (Cod. Theod. 3,12,2). Sch…

[German version] The Digests (Title 47,13) label cases of a forced granting of benefits to an officeholder as concussio (blackmail). Possibly, this is a further development of the reclamation procedure (  repetundarum crimen ). Punishable behaviour in office due to concussio was not prosecuted by a iudicium publicum but by extraordinaria   cognitio . Therefore, it was probably only considered an independent offence in the Imperial period (2nd cent. AD). The sources present pretending a (higher) official authority, orders of a superior and threats of an unfounded suit as means of concu…

[German version] I. General The most important foundations of later European conceptions of law were laid in OT Judaic law, in Greek law as practical counterpart to the beginnings of philosophical reflection on justice ( Pre-Socratics; Justice), and above all in Roman law as the defining authority for the development of secular European jurisprudence since the late Middle Ages ( Reception). Law always comprises regulation on the part of a sizeable community for the settlement of conflicts between…

[German version] From a statement by the Roman jurist, Paul (Dig. 50,16,144) the meaning of paelex (also pelex, pellex, different in Greek pallakḗ ) is that of a female partner to whom one is not married (i.e not uxor, Marriage III.C.). The legal status of paelex was treated in Roman law mainly in the context of concubinage ( concubinatus ). Schiemann, Gottfried (Tübingen)

[German version] (literally 'that which is written down'), in the field of law, denoted all Roman documents, and (as literacy increased) from the Principate, but esp. in late antiquity, e.g. the testament, the note of hand ( cheirógraphon ), generally the contract, but also a legal opinion or a legal ruling, provided that these were given in writing. In a narrower sense, probably arising from the fact that the Roman tax farmers ( publicani ) 'marked down' transactions of relinquishment of public pasture to private (sub-)lessees, scriptura was the payment the lessee had to make for…

[German version] The actus contrarius of a   confarreatio , which dissolved a marriage joined in this form and followed the same ceremony. At the same time it effected the termination of the (former) husband's spousal powers (  manus ). Schiemann, Gottfried (Tübingen) Bibliography 1 W. Kunkel, s.v. matrimonium, RE 14, 2277 2 Treggiari, 24.

[German version] An auctoratus is, according to Gai. Inst. 3,199, a dependent person, who is named together with the minor children and wives as well as the indentured servants ( iudicati). The position of the auctoratus probably rested on a willing subjection by oath ( auctoramentum), perhaps also on a duty of service on behalf of the   pater familias of the auctoratus to the employer. Since the end of the Republic, a free man could commit himself as auctoratus as a  gladiator, which did not protect him from the   infamia which was otherwise associated with the pos…

[German version] In Roman law a permanent union between man and woman without affectio maritalis, i.e. without the intention of both parties of permanently entering a legal bond for forming a household, procreating and raising children. Since the marital laws of Augustus, the concubinatus increasingly became a form of living together if marriage was prohibited. Thus, senators and their descendants were prohibited under the l. Iulia de maritandis ordinibus from marrying a freedwoman, actress or daughter of an actor. Freeborn Romans could not enter into a marriage…

[German version] In Roman law the ‘simple’ death penalty by decapitation (whence also: capitis amputatio), as opposed to being burned alive (  crematio ) and crucifixion (  crux ). All three methods of execution appear in Paulus, Sent. 5,17,2 as summa supplicia (most severe punishments). Certainly from the time of Caligula capital punishment by damnatio ad bestias (animal combat in the arena) was also current practice. Decollatio was typically reserved for higher-status freemen (  honestiores ), while crematio and crux were carried out on ordinary freemen (  humiliores ) and slaves. D…

[German version] ('Revocation') occurs in two special senses in Roman law: (1) as revocatio in servitutem (' revocatio into slavery'), the revocation of manumission, probably only current in Late Antiquity (cf. Cod. Iust. 6,7,2 pr.); (2) in civil actions. There, the convicted party, having already paid, could demand retrial ( restitutio ) only with the risk of being compelled to pay the claimant for the litigation a second time by revocatio in duplum (' revocatio for double the value') if the restitution failed. This applied for the formula procedure ( formula ) and…

[German version] (literally 'to turn your back'). In Roman law, the term refers to the turning away of the private accuser in a criminal trial ( accusatio , delatio nominis ) from the case he had brought against the defendant. Beginning with the SC Turpillianum (AD 61), the tergiversatio led to a case against the accuser himself. When the withdrawal was unjustified, the tergiversatio was punished with a fine (Dig. 47,15,3,3). Beyond that, the private accuser lost his right to hold an office as well as his civic honour ( infamia , Dig. 48,16,2). The defendant who had…

[German version] An iron chain used to tether a debtor's feet  ( ferreum vinculum, quo pedes impediuntur, Fest. 162,1-2). According to the Twelve Tables (Lex XII tab. 3,3),  a creditor was apparently permitted to use the nervus to take the debtor into a kind of coercive detention, if the latter did not pay his debts despite having been sentenced.  Schiemann, Gottfried (Tübingen)

[German version] The technical term from the beginning of the 3rd cent. AD for a criminal law pardon by the Roman emperor (e.g. Cod. Just. 9,23,5 of the year 225). However there had long been pardons in Rome. They could happen during criminal proceedings (e.g. Mod. Dig. 48,16,17) as well as after them in order to lift the sanction imposed, and even before the initiation of any prosecution. In this way, Julius Caesar ordered the people's tribune M. Antonius to arrange a plebiscite to pardon those condemned according to Pompey's law on electoral fraud (  ambitus ) (Caes. …

[German version] (συνάλλαγμα/ synállagma, literally: 'mutual exchange'). Greek expression for a (business) transaction, sometimes for any type of legal obligation regardless of its creation, be it an offence or a contract. It did not have a precise juridicial meaning. Nevertheless, the Roman jurists M. Antistius [II 3] Labeo (about the time of the birth of Christ) and Titius Aristo (late 1st cent. AD) adopted the Greek word synallagma in Latin to refer to agreements that resulted in obligations for both parties. These might be so-called innominate contracts th…

[German version] The law known in modern literature as the law governing citations is an order by the Roman emperor declaring which jurists from earlier centuries should be drawn on and cited in legal decisions. With the crisis of the Roman empire in the mid 3rd cent. AD even Roman jurisprudence (  iuris prudentia ) lost the political, social and economical conditions for productive continuation. Legal literature from the 1st cent. BC, the beginning of its ‘classical’ period, therefore changed from being a fund for a discourse o…

[German version] (lit. 'marriage tablets'). Marriage contracts in Roman law, set out in documents from the Imperial period onwards (cf. Tac. Ann. 6,45,5 on Messalina [2] and Silius in AD 48). In Roman law, marriage itself was not a (formal) contract, it was sexual communion with the intention of living a married life ( affectio maritalis). The subject of the TN, by contrast, were question of property connected with marriage, primarily the pledging of a dowry ( Dos ) to the husband for the wife's maintenance, in Late Antiquity probably also the husband's…

[German version] In Roman law, initially the unilateral repudiation of a wife by her husband. From the literal sense (from pudor, 'shame', 'chastity'), repudium would have had serious misconduct (especially adultery, adulterium ) by the wife as a prerequisite. According to the Twelve Tables, as reported by Gai. Dig. 24,2,2,1, for repudium, the man had to call upon the woman to leave ( baete foras) and to take her things with her ( tuas res tibi habeto). As early as the 3rd cent. BC, repudium was possible without any fault committed by the woman (cf. Gell. NA 4,3,1 f.); no late…

[German version] Compensatio (charging to account) was a rather complicated institution in Roman law. The basic idea, however, is simple: when two parties involved in a court case have claims against each other, the claims are not treated separately, but are offset one against the other -- as far as the amounts cover each other. Both claims are thereby paid off, so that the complaint becomes groundless and the defendant can no longer sue for his counter-claim. The complication in Roman law resulted from the different legal procedures connected to the different reasons leading to claims. Ga…

[German version] The offspring of a slave which, according to Roman law - similar to the young of a domestic animal which belonged to the owner of the female animal - were born as slaves of the dominus of their mother. This was in accordance with the general principle that a child acquired the status of its mother (Gai. Inst. 1,81f.). No legal relationship with the father existed. Only in the time of Justinian [1] (AD 527-565) attempts were made, regarding a (freed or freeborn) father and child to allow them the legal consequences in terms of succession accorded to illegitimate offspring ( natura…

[German version] (literally: ‘imaginary’) in Roman law the term for a legal transaction which expressed something other than what the parties actually intended. The most graphic example is the  mancipatio nummo uno, a transfer against, and by payment of, a merely symbolic copper coin ( aes). Its outward appearance was that of a cash purchase; its actual effect, however, was to enable transfer for any purpose, it could thus be ‘abstract’ - an imaginaria venditio (Gai. Inst. 1,113). In early Roman law, surety meant subjugation to the power of seizure vested in the creditor. Release ( solutio…

[German version] ( ab aere pendendo, Varro, Ling. 5,183). In earlier times the dispensator would presumably weigh unminted precious metals for his master or the state. The post developed into that of bookkeeper, cashier and steward, much like the Greek oikonómos. It is frequently encountered in Roman inscriptions. Many dispensatores were slaves or freedmen. In Gaius Inst. 1,122 they are distinguished as a special type of slaves: servi, quibus permittitur administratio pecuniae, dispensatores appellati sunt (‘slaves entrusted with the management of money are called dispensatores…

[German version] is a part of Roman criminal proceedings of the republican period in crimes against the state. The comitia passed judgement on them in a iudicium publicum. The anquisitio preceded this: first of all the peoples' tribunes, as the magistrates responsible, pleaded the intended charge three times before the assembled people (  contio ). Contrary to the opinion of Mommsen [1], the comitia were not just a pardoning body which decided after a   provocatio against the sentence previously passed by the magistrate. As Brecht [2] and Kunkel [3] discovered from their studies, the anqu…

[German version] (pl. nomina). In Roman law, the term for debts. Gai. Inst. 128-133 distinguishes between ‘cash debts’ ( nomina arcaria), which arose e.g. from loans ( mutuum , see also condictio ), and ‘ledger debts’ ( nomina transscripticia), which arose by an entry in the ‘ledger’ of the creditor as an obligation from a litterarum obligatio . Schiemann, Gottfried (Tübingen)

[German version] The term instrumentum (an object that has been ‘erected’ or ‘set up’) has widely differing meanings in Roman legal terminology: 1. in the Imperial period, especially in late antiquity, instrumentum was the document recorded by a document writer (  Tabellio ) concerning a civil legal transaction or (as instrumentum publicum) by an authority regarding a private or public matter. The instrumentum publicum and the instrumentum of the document writer, which was attested as authentic by three witnesses and also by the tabellio in writing, had full status as proof in…

[German version] A. Concept Lex (‘law’, pl. leges) in Roman law denotes stipulation by a private individual, an office-bearer or a legislative body. The etymology is obscure. A derivation from legere (‘to read out’), referring to the method of stipulation by way of a ceremonial formula (cf. B. below on nuncupatio) remains speculative. Crucial to the lex is its mandatory character. On the other hand, in the original use of the term it lacks the ‘abstract’ (claiming general validity) and ‘general’ (directed at a large number of people) character of mod…

[German version] ‘To indicate the name (of a suspect)’ is originally only the very first step in initiating a public prosecution in Rome. Plaut. Aul. 416 uses the expression in this way regarding the campaign conducted by the   tresviri capitales against underclass criminality. In proceedings before these magistrates, a kind of police-court justice, the meaning of delatio nominis ─ entirely in the sense of a modern complaint to the police ─ is evidently confined to the sole process of reporting a criminal act [1. 60, 78]. In the 3rd and above all the 2nd cents. BC, alongside the …

[German version] The expression for  mental illness in Roman law. The person affected by this, the furiosus, according to the Twelve Tables ( c. 450 BC), found himself in a special relationship of authority and dependence (foster-care, cura furiosi). The agnate (  agnatio ) and, when needed, in early times the gentile (  gens ) were entitled to the office of the curator (Cic. Inv. 2,148; Rhet. Her. 1,23). The position of the curator, similar to that of a trustee, corresponded to a great extent to that of a guardian (  tutela ) and was valid not only for the person but also for the property of the furi…

[German version] Probably the usual type of arrangement for setting up a marriage in which the   manus power relationship applied to the woman. Coemptio cannot simply be interpreted as the purchase of a bride (even as a practice in a very early phase of development) because it is connected to the formal transaction of the   mancipatio , which, at a very early stage separated the actual procedure from that of the conceptual image the term evokes. One can assume that originally, the bride's father ‘transferred’ the power over his daugh…

[German version] The word aequitas has several meanings. There is a particularly fluid transition to iustum. The latter usually tends to refer to fidelity to positive law, aequitas to justice characterizing and penetrating the whole of law. Linguistic kinship to the horizontal points to equality in the sense of the corollary of performance and counter-performance, misconduct and sanction. Additionally aequitas includes the meaning of proper appropriation of facts as equal or unequal to the cases already decided in positive law. Going still further at th…

[German version] The Latin term for Manumission (C.), the freeing of slaves. Schiemann, Gottfried (Tübingen)

[German version] Tutelage played an important part in both Athenian (cf. epitropos [2]) and Roman law (cf. tutela [1]). It applied not only in respect of infants and impubes ('those under the age of discretion') not under the patria postestas ('paternal power'), but also in a wider context as a gender-based tutelage in respect of women ( Kyrios [II], Tutela, [1 III]). Schiemann, Gottfried (Tübingen)

[German version] Manus is used in Roman law in the sense of the ‘controlling and protecting hand’, expressing the family law concept of a relationship based on domination. Originally, manus may have described the hegemony of the head of the family ( pater familias ) not merely over his children ( patria potestas ) but also over his wife. Already in the Law of the Twelve Tables (5th cent. BC), however, paternal power is treated separately. The meaning of manus is accordingly restricted to the husband's relationship of power over his wife. Our best source for manus are the ‘Institutions’ of …

[German version] According to Varro, Ling. 5,151, the term carcer, i.e. a place for individual detention, is derived from coercere; it is thus linked to the magistracy's powers of   coercitio for the direct enforcement of its authority, and not the punishment of criminal misconduct. ‘The carcer has to be maintained for the detention, not the punishment of people’: carcer enim ad continendos homines, non ad puniendos haberi debet (Ulp. Dig. 48,19,8,7). Civil law offences and other obligations, for which the obligator was liable in person, were regulated by the XI…

[German version]  Adultery ( a.) in Roman law according to the l. Iulia de adulteriis coercendis was a matter for public criminal proceedings ( iudicium publicum). The factual proximity of this ruling to Augustus' other marriage legislation suggests that the law on adultery originates from the same year as the l. de maritandis ordinibus (18 BC). According to a report by Paulus (Coll. 4,2,2), from the late classical period, several earlier laws were rescinded by the l. Iulia. So adulterium must already have been prosecuted at the time of the Republic, probably by the holder of authority ( pat…

[German version] (pl. plebiscita). The resolutions of the assembly of the Roman plebs ( concilium ; plebs ). From the lex Hortensia (287 BC) onwards, these resolutions were equated with leges (laws, lex ) ( legibus exaequata sunt, Gai. Inst. 1,3) and were also so called. It can now be regarded as disproved that there existed any earlier general binding character to the plebiscitum (summary in [1. 61f.]). Over the following three cents., the plebiscitum formed the core of the entire Roman legislative process. This may partly have been because the convocation of a concilium plebis by the pe…

[German version] (the 'appraisal') in the Roman formula process was the upper limit to which the iudex ('judge') could set the sentence sum on conviction ( condemnatio ), by instruction of the praetor. The taxatio typically occurred in cases of (1) liability of the master for the property ( peculium ) of the slave or filiusfamilias from the actio de peculio or the actio de in rem verso, in respect of asset gains made by the action of such individuals under his power ( patria potestas ), (2) an exception sought by the debtor because of distress ( beneficium competentiae) and (3) an appeal for iniur…

[German version] Abbreviation of the all-inclusive designation N(umerius) N(egidius), which in Roman jurisprudence is used to describe the defendant; analogous to A.A. Schiemann, Gottfried (Tübingen)

[German version] ('liquidation of assets') is the model for the Roman collection of debts ( missio in possessionem ) executed against debtors in Roman law. If someone, esp. a tax collector ( publicani ), owed money to the state, all his assets were liquidated. The buyer had to assume the debt. The purchase price went to the treasury ( aerarium ). Guarantors ( praedes) whom the state debtor often had to procure were subject to SB as well. Debt Schiemann, Gottfried (Tübingen) Bibliography M. Kaser, K. Hackl, Das römische Zivilprozeßrecht 21996, 389 f.

[German version] In Graeco-Roman Antiquity banishment largely replaced the death penalty for members of the upper class, but also existed as an independent  punishment, as in the Attic ostrakismós . For details for Greece, particularly Athens, see phygḗ , aeiphygía , apeniautismós , for Rome see exilium , deportatio , relegatio . Schiemann, Gottfried (Tübingen)

[German version] Under Roman law the   pater familias generally held paternal authority over his children for as long as he lived. Releasing sons from the control of the pater was possible only by means of a formal and complicated legal process: the emancipatio. It was linked to formal alienation by   mancipatio , by which not only a dominus could sell his slaves but also a father his sons. By means of this ‘sale’ a father gave his sons into servitude with another pater. Even in the period of the Twelve Tablets (5th cent. BC) no suitable business practice other than the ‘sale’ …

[German version] according to the Digest title 48,2 is the charge in Roman criminal proceedings. The bearer of the accusatio is in that case a private person. This person first laid a charge (  delatio nominis ). In the later imperial period in an extra ordinem judicial criminal prosecution it was often the case that this was the sum total of the private share in the course of procedure. In the republican procedure (  quaestio ), on the other hand, the delator was always and, even later still regularly, a party after admission of the accusatio by the court magistrate ( receptio nominis) -- simil…

[German version] Roman freedmen, whose manumission ( Manumissio ) was deficient. For this reason the freedman did not receive citizenship and in general had an inferior legal status compared to other freedmen. The term Latini Iuniani ( LI) is derived from a lex Iunia ( Norbana?), probably of AD 19. It legally equated certain groups of freedmen with Latini coloniarii (holders of citizenship in a Latin colony). Therefore, they had no political rights (especially no voting rights) but were able to take part in legal transactions with Roman citizens because they had the commercium …

[German version] A couple's engagement in Roman law. The term appears to have derived from the fact that marriage in earlier times had been promised mutually through an official stipulatio (or through sponsio ) of the couple's fathers. In the late Republic and in the Principate, the sponsalia could be revoked freely and it was no longer possible to file a suit for marriage. Indirect commitments (e.g. contract penalties, Dig. 45,1,134 pr.) were abolished as well. Schiemann, Gottfried (Tübingen) Bibliography Honsell/Mayer-Maly/Selb, 392 f.  Treggiari, 145-160.