Roman Law

Actus reus: criminal act; an essential element for a crime in Roman law. An attempt to commit a criminal act could constitute as actus reus. Treasonous speech, defamatory speech, perjury, forgery, false pleadings (and other false communications) could be constituted as actus rea.

Absolvo: acquittal

Abigeatus: rustling; a specific subspecies of theft

Actio de posito et suspenso: “an action relating to something that has been placed or hung out”. This action was carried out against the owner of a structure when an obstruction was suspended or otherwise placed in such a way that it injured passers-by.

Actio de rebus effusis vel deiectis: “an action relating to things which have been thrown out” This action was carried out against the owner of the property from which things were thrown or poured onto a street. This action gave passers-by redress for damage caused by the things that were thrown or poured from a structure.

Actio servi corrupti: this action concerned situations where a person influenced another’s slave in a negative manner.

Ad agendum: to prepare a case for the court (Latin meaning: agere is the verb used to plead a case before the court)

Ad cavendum: to draft documents; the process of drafting written formulae for lawsuits or business transactions.

Ad respondendum: To answer legal questions and give legal advice; the private function of a lawyer to explanation to a praetor, aedile, judge, or layperson what a particular law meant.

Aedile: The office of the aedile was created in 367 B.C.E. There were four aediles who kept the State archives, and supervised the streets, aqueducts, buildings, bridges, and the public market place. They could also influence laws relating to the sale of goods. They had a degree of flexibility to adapt the laws of the marketplace by creative interpretation through the ius honorarium. They were in charge of archives and public works.

Ambitus: criminal conduct related to elections such as bribery and other types of electoral corruption. Common punishments included fines and a loss of status.

Apud iudicem: the time a case would be heard by a judge.

Augurs: Augurs were in charge of the auspices and augury. They had the power to delay or prohibit public business.

Calumnia: a criminal offence for an accuser to bring false charges. Censor: conducted the census of the population; they were able to determine the political and social status of all Roman citizens; they also had the role of evaluating both public and private moral behaviour.

Centumviri (100 men): large juries used for disputes involving inheritance of large estates of nobles or the rich.

Civis: Latin for citizen.

Cognitio extraordinario / Cognitio extra ordinem: an extraordinary procedure in which the emperor, magistrate, or a delegated official would hear the entire case combining the in iure and apud iudicem phases. There was no distinction between the in iure and apud iudicem phases. This procedure was used in the Post-Classical period.

Comitia: an assembly

Comitia centuriata: The assembly compromising all Roman citizens organized into “centuries”. It was organized by wealth.

Comitia curiata: During the Republic it served mostly to witness and perhaps authorize wills and adoptions. It operated in the Monarchy but we don’t know the details.

Comitia tributa: The comitia tributa was organized by the location of residence and they vote in an order determined by lot. It elects curule aediles and quaestors, votes on laws and judges trials.

Concilium plebis: an assembly of all plebeians organized by tribe and presided over by the tribunes of the plebs. They elected tribunes of the plebs and plebeian aediles, votes on plebiscites, and judges trials.

Condemno: a conviction

Condemnatio: This is another part of the typical formula. It is the instruction to judge to either find the defendant liable or not based upon an application of the formula to his findings of fact.

Contiones: public meetings Where debating and public discussion took place.

Cursus honorum: A regular order of elected offices which was established after the Second Punic War.

Damnum iniuria datum: property damage

Decreta: legal decisions rendered by the emperor in any given case that had been brought before him.

Delictum: crime or unintentional tort

De residuis (embezzlement): the unlawful appropriation of money that has been entrusted. The penalty was payment of a fine.

Dolus: criminal intent

Edictum perpetuum: Julianus, the jurist under the reign of Emperor Hadrian (117-138 CE) put the praetorian and aedilician edicts into their final forms. Later classical Roman jurists referred to Julianus’ frozen version of the praetor’s edicts as the edictum perpetuum and considered it established law.

Effractores: burglars who broke into apartments.

Equites (singular: eques): They bid on contracts with the senate or with magistrates to carryout public business like the collection of taxes (publicani).

Exceptio: An exceptio is an example of one of the legal institutions that Roman praetors created. It is a method of protecting rights kind of like a defense to an action.

Expilatores: Thieves who ransacked homes in the countryside.

Falsum: forgery

Flagrante delicto: (literally,“in blazing offence”); caught red handed

Furtum manifestum: the thief is caught in the action. The penalty was to be beaten and then the perpetrator was handed over to the victim of the theft as a slave or bondsman. The thief was also required to pay quadruple damages. If a slave was found guilty of furtum manifestum he was to be beaten and then executed by hurling him from the famous Tarpeian Rock.

Furtum nec manifestum: the thief is not caught in the action.

Glossa: comments and laws

Honestiores: more privileged citizens (for example army veterans).

Imperium: the power to command

In iure (literally, “in accordance with the law”): The first stage of the three chronological phases in Roman law.

Iniuria (personal injury): An injury to one’s reputation, dignity, honor, or bodily integrity. It applied to a variety of offensive conduct.

Inscriptio: The court president wrote down an inscriptio for the prosecutor to sign.

Institutiones: an official textbook on Roman law and a functional code that could be consulted for subsequent decisions.

Intentio: This is another part of the typical formula (written instruction). It is the statement of the plaintiff’s claim and the most important section of every formula. The intentio made clear what the action was.

Intercessio: Veto power against magistrates of equal or lower status.

Interdictio aquae et ignis: banishment/exile; literally “prohibition of water and fire”.

Iudex: Latin for "judge". One of the most important officials involved in the development of the legis actiones system.

Iudicis nominatio: This is one part of the typical formula which nominates a judge

Iudex qui litem suam fecit: “a judge who has made a case his own”. One of the quasi-delicts. This occurred when judge provided an incorrect decision or otherwise wrongfully damaged a litigant.

Ius Aelianum: A collection of judicial formulae for lawsuits, dating to ca. 200 BCE.

Ius Flavianum: A collection of formulae for lawsuits, dating to ca. 300 BCE.

Ius gentium: Literally, “law of the peoples/nations”. The praetor peregrinus used this law between a Roman citizen and a foreigner or between two foreigners who were involved in a dispute on Roman soil.

Ius occidendi: the right of killing; stems from the power of the paterfamilias over members of his family.

Ius honorarium: The law that resulted from the praetors’ edicts. It was used to distinguish law based on the praetor’s edict from more formal legislation.

Ius privatum: included rules of property, succession, contracts, and laws relating to the family; deals with the interests of separate persons (according to the Roman Jurist Ulpian).

Ius publicum: a body of laws that deals with interests of the entire community (according to Roman Jurist Ulpian).

Ius respondendi ex auctoritate principis: (sometimes referred to simply as the ius respondendi); the law of responding from the authority of the princeps (emperor).

Ius vocatio: the act of bringing a defendant before the praetor by a formal summons initiated in the in iure phase.

Laudatores: character witnesses

Leges: statutes adopted by the populus romanus; designed to honour the honour the mos maiorum.

Legis actiones: The early form of civil procedure; “suits/actions of law”.

Lenocinium: any conduct that facilitated sexual crime.

Lex Aquilia: This law was passed by the concilium plebis in 287 BCE. and it governed most of the law related to damage to property; it established the rights of a master against someone who injured his slaves or animals. There were three main sections: 1. Relating to the killing of slaves and herd animals; 2. Relating to debtors who frauded their creditors; 3. Relating to other property damage.

Lex Calpurnia: In 149 BCE this law established a permanent court which compromised of senators as jurors. In the period following this law, the Romans began establishing new permanent jury courts known as quaestiones perpetuae to handle criminal matters.

Lex Canuleia: A law passed in 445 BCE which gave plebeians the right of intermarriage with the patricians.

Lex Cornelia de iniuriis: A law that created what amounted to a criminal cause of action against persons for hitting others or for forcefully breaking into another’s home.

Lex Cornelia nummaria: the earliest Roman law to criminalize the counterfeiting of money.

Lex Fabia: a law that criminalized the sale of a Roman citizen, freedman, or slave who belonged to someone else.

Lex Hortensia: (287 BCE) decreed that the enactments of the concilium plebis had the force of law over all Roman citizens. Plebiscita were binding on the whole of Rome after the lex Hortensia.

Lex Iulia de adulteriis coercendis: The Julian (i.e., created by Augustus, whose family name was Julius) law regarding forced adultery. It granted a paterfamilias authority to kill his own daughter if she were caught committing adultery in flagrante delicto either in his house or the house of his son-in-law. It provided harsh financial penalties for adultery.

Lex Ogulnia: (300 BCE) The law that allowed plebeians to be pontifices.

Lex Pompeia: (55 BCE) The first statute that criminalized parricide as an offense distinct from ordinary murder.

Lex talionis: A law on retribution; essentially the equivalent of "an eye for an eye".

Litis contestatio: The appearance of parties before the praetor to initiate a suit. If the praetor decided that there was a cause of action, the praetor wrote the formula that went to the judge.

Licinian Sextian law: (367 BCE) this law allowed one of the two consuls elected every year had to be a plebeian.

Maiestas: treason--Maiestas included a number of illegal activities: armed assault on the State; gathering soldiers or conducting warfare without the State’s permission; desertion.

Maius imperium: The "greater power to command", held by a more senior magistrate (i.e. the consul), which prevented e.g., a praetor from vetoing the consul's actions.

Mancipatio: the act of transferring res mancipi e.g. land, slaves, cattle, horses, mules, donkeys.

Mens rea: "a guilty mind".

Mos maiorum: customs of their (Romans’) ancestors

Nominis delatio: =(denunciation of the name) The trial began with a nominis delatio attended by both prosecutor and defendant.

Novella: new laws that were adopted after the Corpus Iuris had been written.

Obligatio/obligationes: this entailed some relationship between two persons in which one was a creditor and the other debtor. Legal relationships that gave one person the right to require any performance of any sort from the other. Obligationes were categorized into four groups: obligations ex contractu (obligations arising from contract); obligationes ex delicto (obligations arising from delict); obligationes quasi ex contractu: obligations as if arising from contract; and obligationes quasi ex

Paterfamilias: the father of the family; the head of the household

Peculatus: a kind of embezzlement; any wrongful appropriation, diversion, or conversion of sacred, religious, or public funds. The punishment was usually banishment and during the empire, confiscation of the offender’s property.

Perduellio: This term also refers to treasonous conduct but it was used more in the earlier Republic. The most common penalties for perduellio during the Republic were death or exile.

Per formulam: The formulary procedure which replaced the legis actiones in the beginning of the 2nd century B.C. Praetor had a more active role.

Plagium: kidnapping

Plebiscita (singular: plebiscitum): enactments of the concilium plebis

Pontifices: pontiffs (priests) had access to the archives containing the specialized legal forms and phrases that were necessary to conduct a law suit. They regulated the specialized rules for initiating and carrying out lawsuits. In the beginning, pontifices were the lawyers. They were mostly in charge of sacrifices and festivals but in the early republic they had control of the laws as well.

Populus Romanus: the Roman people

Praefectus vigilum: Prefect of the Night Watch

Praetor: Officials in charge of the judiciary and the legal system as a whole. They fashioned their edicts on an annual basis and fashioned formulae on a daily basis.

Praetor peregrinus: A praetor who deals with matters relating to disputes between citizens and foreigners.

Praetor urbanus: The praetor urbanus took charge of matters concerning Roman citizens. This was added in 242 BCE.

Praescriptio: a general comment concerning the wrong.

Praevaricatio: A criminal offence for an accuser to hide legitimate charges.

Provocatio: the right to appeal the summary judgement of a magistrate to an assembly of the Roman people.

Quaestors: financial officials

Quaestiones perpetuae: permanent courts

Quaestio de repetundiis: courts established to hear cases of extortion in the provinces by a governor.

Rapina: robbery with violence

Recuperatores: recoverers three to five judges instead of a single iudex.

Repetundae: extortion by provincial governors and after the second century BCE it included the losses by Roman citizens and losses suffered by allies and foreigners. Activities included: accepting bribes or special favours; trading for personal profit; conduct that allowed a person to reap individual gain by virtue of his office. The most common penalty was banishment and execution.

Restitutio: one of the legal institutions created by the Roman praetors. The coerced party could be entitled to restitution. For example, restitutio forced a party who had been unjustly enriched to return the unjustly-obtained money.

Saccularii: thieves who slit pockets and purses to empty their contents.

Sanctio: the negative consequences which resulted from a person’s violation of the praescriptio.

Sciens dolo malo: “knowingly and with malicious intent”

Senatus Consulta: advice from the senate.

Sententia: the opinion of the judge (iudex).

Stellionatus: Any conduct that was dishonest or fraudulent and did not fit neatly into another defined criminal category could be dealt as stellionatus. Examples include: pledging property that belonged to someone else; an imposter who posed as another person and profited was guilty of stellionatus. (PS how awesome is it that this means "Acting like a lizard"??).

Stipulatio: a face to face contract that originally required one party to ask “Do you promise” and the other to respond “I promise”.

Stuprum: an illegal crime which occurred when a man acting sciens dolo malo had sexual relations with a “respectable” unmarried girl or woman or boy.

Tergiversatio: a criminal offence for an accuser to abandon charges once formally begun.

Tresviri capitalis: handled cases involving theft.

Tripertitia: a major work published by Sextus Aelius Paetus. It was the first attempt at a systematic treatment of Roman law. First it presented each provision of the Twelve Tables, then the interpretations by pontiffs and juris consults of these provisions and then written formulae appropriate for lawsuits applicable to each provision.

Vis: force/violence; a special kind of crime; included conduct such as armed robbery, battery, and sedition. Around the 3rd century CE there were two types of vis: public which included offenses committed by public officials (killing, torturing, or beating a citizen; private which involved violent crimes perpetrated by private individuals. The penalty for vis was usually capital punishment or exile.