ROMAN LAW Flashcards
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
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.
Apud iudicem:
the time a case would be heard by a judge.
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.
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.
Cursus honorum:
A regular order of elected offices which was established after the Second Punic War.
Decreta:
Legal decisions rendered by the emperor in any given case that had been brought before him.
Delictum
crime or unintentional tort
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.
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.
Institutiones:
an official textbook on Roman law and a functional code that could be consulted for subsequent decisions.
Intercessio
Veto power against magistrates of equal or lower status.
Iudex:
Latin for “judge”. One of the most important officials involved in the development of the legis actiones system.
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 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).
