Corpus iurisprudentiae Romanae

Repertorium zu den Quellen des römischen Rechts

Digesta Iustiniani Augusti

Recognovit Mommsen (1870) et retractavit Krüger (1928)
Convertit in Anglica lingua Scott (1932)
Dig. L13,
De variis et extraordinariis cognitionibus et si iudex litem suam fecisse dicetur
Liber quinquagesimus
XIII.

De variis et extraordinariis cognitionibus et si iudex litem suam fecisse dicetur

(Concerning Extraordinary Judicial Inquiries, and Where a Judge is Alleged to Have Rendered a Case His Own.)

1Ul­pia­nus li­bro oc­ta­vo de om­ni­bus tri­bu­na­li­bus. Prae­ses pro­vin­ciae de mer­ce­di­bus ius di­ce­re so­let, sed prae­cep­to­ri­bus tan­tum stu­dio­rum li­be­ra­lium. li­be­ra­lia au­tem stu­dia ac­ci­pi­mus, quae Grae­ci ἐλευθέρια ap­pel­lant: rhe­to­res con­ti­ne­bun­tur, gram­ma­ti­ci, geo­me­trae. 1Me­di­co­rum quo­que ea­dem cau­sa est quae pro­fes­so­rum, ni­si quod ius­tior, cum hi sa­lu­tis ho­mi­num, il­li stu­dio­rum cu­ram agant: et id­eo his quo­que ex­tra or­di­nem ius di­ci de­bet. 2Sed et ob­ste­tri­cem au­diant, quae uti­que me­di­ci­nam ex­hi­be­re vi­de­tur. 3Me­di­cos for­tas­sis quis ac­ci­piet et­iam eos, qui ali­cu­ius par­tis cor­po­ris vel cer­ti do­lo­ris sa­ni­ta­tem pol­li­cen­tur: ut pu­ta si au­ri­cu­la­rius, si fis­tu­lae vel den­tium. non ta­men si in­can­ta­vit, si in­pre­ca­tus est, si, ut vul­ga­ri ver­bo im­pos­to­rum utar, si exor­ci­za­vit: non sunt is­ta me­di­ci­nae ge­ne­ra, tam­et­si sint, qui hos si­bi pro­fuis­se cum prae­di­ca­tio­ne ad­fir­ment. 4An et phi­lo­so­phi pro­fes­so­rum nu­me­ro sint? et non pu­tem, non quia non re­li­gio­sa res est, sed quia hoc pri­mum pro­fi­te­ri eos opor­tet mer­cen­na­riam ope­ram sper­ne­re. 5Pro­in­de ne iu­ris qui­dem ci­vi­lis pro­fes­so­ri­bus ius di­cent: est qui­dem res sanc­tis­si­ma ci­vi­lis sa­pien­tia, sed quae pre­tio num­ma­rio non sit aes­ti­man­da nec de­ho­nes­tan­da, dum in iu­di­cio ho­nor pe­ti­tur, qui in in­gres­su sa­cra­men­ti of­fer­ri de­buit. quae­dam enim tam­et­si ho­nes­te ac­ci­pian­tur, in­ho­nes­te ta­men pe­tun­tur. 6Lu­di quo­que lit­te­ra­rii ma­gis­tris li­cet non sint pro­fes­so­res, ta­men usur­pa­tum est, ut his quo­que ius di­ca­tur: iam et li­bra­riis et no­ta­riis et cal­cu­la­to­ri­bus si­ve ta­bu­la­riis. 7Sed ce­te­ra­rum ar­tium opi­fi­ci­bus si­ve ar­ti­fi­ci­bus, quae sunt ex­tra lit­te­ras vel no­tas po­si­tae, ne­qua­quam ex­tra or­di­nem ius di­ce­re prae­ses de­be­bit. 8Sed et si com­ites sa­la­rium pe­tant, idem iu­ris est, quod in pro­fes­so­ri­bus pla­cet. 9Sed et ad­ver­sus ip­sos om­nes co­gnos­ce­re prae­ses de­bet, quia ut ad­ver­sus ad­vo­ca­tos ad­ean­tur, di­vi fra­tres re­scrip­se­runt. 10In ho­no­ra­riis ad­vo­ca­to­rum ita ver­sa­ri iu­dex de­bet, ut pro mo­do li­tis pro­que ad­vo­ca­ti fa­cun­dia et fo­ri con­sue­tu­di­ne et iu­di­cii, in quo erat ac­tu­rus, aes­ti­ma­tio­nem ad­hi­beat, dum­mo­do li­ci­tum ho­no­ra­rium quan­ti­tas non egre­dia­tur: ita enim re­scrip­to im­pe­ra­to­ris nos­tri et pa­tris eius con­ti­ne­tur. ver­ba re­scrip­ti ita se ha­bent: ‘Si Iu­lius Ma­ter­nus, quem pa­tro­num cau­sae tuae es­se vo­luis­ti, fi­dem sus­cep­tam ex­hi­be­re pa­ra­tus est, eam dum­ta­xat pe­cu­niam, quae mo­dum le­gi­ti­mum egres­sa est, re­pe­te­re de­bes’. 11Ad­vo­ca­tos ac­ci­pe­re de­be­mus om­nes om­ni­no, qui cau­sis agen­dis quo­quo stu­dio ope­ran­tur: non ta­men qui pro trac­ta­tu, non ad­fu­tu­ri cau­sis, ac­ci­pe­re quid so­lent, ad­vo­ca­to­rum nu­me­ro erunt. 12Si cui cau­tum est ho­no­ra­rium vel si quis de li­te pac­tus est, vi­dea­mus, an pe­te­re pos­sit. et qui­dem de pac­tis ita est re­scrip­tum ab im­pe­ra­to­re nos­tro et di­vo pa­tre eius: ‘Li­tis cau­sa ma­lo mo­re pe­cu­niam ti­bi pro­mis­sam ip­se quo­que pro­fi­te­ris. sed hoc ita11Die Großausgabe fügt ius ein. est, si sus­pen­sa li­te so­cie­ta­tem fu­tu­ri emo­lu­men­ti cau­tio pol­li­ce­tur. si ve­ro post cau­sam ac­tam cau­ta est ho­no­ra­ria sum­ma, pe­ti pot­erit us­que ad pro­ba­bi­lem quan­ti­ta­tem, et­si no­mi­ne pal­ma­rii cau­tum sit: sic ta­men, ut com­pu­te­tur id quod da­tum est cum eo quod de­be­tur ne­utrum­que com­po­si­tum li­ci­tam quan­ti­ta­tem ex­ce­dat.’ li­ci­ta au­tem quan­ti­tas in­tel­le­gi­tur pro sin­gu­lis cau­sis us­que ad cen­tum au­reos. 13Di­vus Se­ve­rus ab he­redi­bus ad­vo­ca­ti mor­tuo eo pro­hi­buit mer­ce­dem re­pe­ti, quia per ip­sum non ste­te­rat, quo mi­nus cau­sam age­ret. 14Ad nu­tri­cia quo­que of­fi­cium prae­si­dis vel prae­to­ris de­ve­nit: nam­que nu­tri­ces ob ali­mo­niam in­fan­tium apud prae­si­des quod si­bi de­be­tur pe­tunt. sed nu­tri­cia eo us­que pro­du­ce­mus, quo­ad in­fan­tes ube­ri­bus alun­tur: ce­te­rum post haec ces­sant par­tes prae­to­ris vel prae­si­dis. 15Haec om­nia si apud prae­si­des pe­tan­tur, vi­dea­mus an de mu­tuis pe­ti­tio­ni­bus pos­sunt prae­si­des co­gnos­ce­re. et pu­tem de­be­re ad­mit­ti.

1Ulpianus, On All Tribunals, Book VIII. The Governor of a province usually decided with reference to salaries, but only concerning those to which instructors in liberal studies are entitled. We understand liberal studies to be those which the Greeks designate eleuveria, and they include such as are taught by professors of rhetoric, grammar, and geometry. 1For the same reason, nothing is more just than also to include professors of medicine, for the latter give their attention to the health of men, and the former to their studies; and therefore with reference to them also, the Governor of the province should expound the law arbitrarily. 2Governors hear midwives, who are also considered to practice medicine. 3Anyone understands a physician to be one who promises a cure for any part of the body, or relief from pain, as, for example, an affection of the ear, a fistula, or a toothache; provided he does not employ incantations, imprecations, or exorcisms (to make use of the ordinary term applied to charlatans), for such things as this do not properly belong to the practice of medicine, although there are persons who commend such expedients, and affirm that they have been benefited by them. 4Are philosophers to be included in the number of professors? I do not think that they are, not because philosophy is irreligious, but because those who practice it should, first of all, scorn any mercenary labor. 5Hence, the Governor of a province does not decide with reference to the remuneration of professors of the Civil Law, for their wisdom is considered to be something extremely sacred; but it should not be estimated by its value in money, or be dishonored where compensation is claimed by a person who ought to promise under oath to dispense instruction gratuitously. Still, contributions when tendered may honorably be accepted, which, however, would be dishonorable if demanded. 6Governors of provinces have also assumed the right to decide with reference to school teachers, although they are not classed as professors, as well as in the case of copyists, makers of notes, accountants, and notaries. 7The Governor should, by no means, arbitrarily decide with reference to the master-workmen of other arts, or artisans who are not included in the literary professions, or are not mentioned above. 8When assistants demand their salaries, it has been decided that the same rule applies as in the case of professors. 9The Governor should take cognizance of all claims against these persons, for the Divine Brothers stated in a Rescript that this could even be done against advocates. 10With reference to the fees of advocates, the judge should decide according to the importance of the case, the skill of the advocate, and the custom of the bar, and should make an estimate of the fees to which the advocate was entitled, provided the amount does not exceed the compensation fixed by law; for this was set forth in a Rescript of Our Emperor and his Father in the following terms: “If Julius Maternus, who has wished you to appear in his case, is ready to pay you what he agreed to do, you can only claim an amount which does not exceed that prescribed by law.” 11We should understand advocates to be all those who devote their energies to the purpose of conducting litigation. Those, however, are not included in the number of advocates who ordinarily appear in court to conduct cases in behalf of parties who are absent. 12If a fee has been agreed upon with an advocate, or if anyone has made a contract with him, having reference to the conduct of a case, let us see whether he can demand it. And, indeed, the following was stated by our Emperor and his Divine Father with reference to agreements of this kind, namely: “It is the observance of a bad custom where you exact from your client a promise for the payment of money for conducting his case. It is the law that if, while the case is pending, an agreement is made for future remuneration it will be void; but if it is made after the case has been tried, the sum promised as a fee can be collected up to a reasonable amount, even though the agreement was made with reference to what might be recovered, provided what has been paid shall be reckoned with what is due, and the entire amount does not exceed the legal fee.” The proper fee is understood to be no more than a hundred aurei in any one case. 13The Divine Severus prohibited a fee from being recovered from the heirs of an advocate after his death, because it was not his fault that he did not conduct the suit. 14It is also the duty of a Governor or a Prætor to take cognizance of the claims of nurses for the support of children to which they are entitled, when brought before their magistrates. Such claims, however, should only be considered where infants are nourished by the breast, but when this is not the case, neither the Prætor nor the Governor will have jurisdiction. 15If all these things should be demanded before the Governors of provinces, let us see whether they can have jurisdiction of reciprocal claims. I think that they should be permitted to do so.

2Idem li­bro pri­mo opi­nio­num. De usu aquae, de ri­vis no­vis in­ci­vi­li­ter in­sti­tu­tis, item de equis alie­nis a scien­te pos­ses­sis fe­tu­que ea­rum, et de dam­no da­to per im­mis­sos in prae­dium suum uni­ver­sos ho­mi­nes eos, qui in plu­rium prae­dia dis­tri­bui de­bue­runt, si mo­do id non ex auc­to­ri­ta­te eius qui iu­be­re po­tuit fac­tum est, prae­si­dem pro­vin­ciae do­ce­ri opor­te­re re­spon­sum est, ut is se­cun­dum rei ae­qui­ta­tem et iu­ris­dic­tio­nis or­di­nem con­ve­nien­tem for­mam rei det.

2The Same, Opinions, Book I. It has been decided that the Governor of a province has jurisdiction of disputes arising with reference to the use of water distributed by new conduits, constructed contrary to law; as well as of those relating to horses possessed by persons who know that they belong to others, as well as to their increase; and to injuries caused by parties, placed in possession of the land of others, when the said land should be divided among several individuals; provided this has been done by the authority of someone who had no right to order it; so that the Governor may render his decision in these cases according to justice and his right of jurisdiction, and place matters in a suitable condition.

3Idem li­bro quin­to opi­nio­num. Si me­di­cus, cui cu­ran­dos suos ocu­los qui eis la­bo­ra­bat com­mi­se­rat, pe­ri­cu­lum amit­ten­do­rum eo­rum per ad­ver­sa me­di­ca­men­ta in­fe­ren­do com­pu­lit, ut ei pos­ses­sio­nes suas con­tra fi­dem bo­nam ae­ger ven­de­ret: in­ci­vi­le fac­tum prae­ses pro­vin­ciae co­er­ceat rem­que re­sti­tui iu­beat.

3Ad Dig. 50,13,3Windscheid: Lehrbuch des Pandektenrechts, 7. Aufl. 1891, Bd. II, § 388, Note 15.The Same, Opinions, Book V. When a physician, who has been entrusted with the treatment of anyone’s eyes, administers drugs which may cause him to lose his eyesight, in order by doing so to force him to sell him his property, while he is ill, contrary to good faith, the Governor of the province must punish the unlawful act, and order the property to be restored.

4Pau­lus li­bro quar­to ad Plau­tium. Di­vus An­to­ni­nus Pius re­scrip­sit iu­ris stu­dio­sos, qui sa­la­ria pe­te­bant, haec ex­ige­re pos­se.

4Paulus, On Plautius, Book IV. The Divine Antoninus Pius stated in a Rescript that persons learned in the law, who demanded their fees, could collect them.

5Cal­lis­tra­tus li­bro pri­mo de co­gni­tio­ni­bus. Co­gni­tio­num nu­me­rus cum ex va­riis cau­sis de­scen­dat, in ge­ne­ra di­vi­di fa­ci­le non pot­est, ni­si sum­ma­tim di­vi­da­tur. nu­me­rus er­go co­gni­tio­num in quat­tuor fe­re ge­ne­ra di­vi­di pot­est: aut enim de ho­no­ri­bus si­ve mu­ne­ri­bus ge­ren­dis agi­ta­tur, aut de re pe­cu­nia­ria dis­cep­ta­tur, aut de ex­is­ti­ma­tio­ne ali­cu­ius co­gnos­ci­tur, aut de ca­pi­ta­li cri­mi­ne quae­ri­tur. 1Ex­is­ti­ma­tio est dig­ni­ta­tis in­lae­sae sta­tus, le­gi­bus ac mo­ri­bus com­pro­ba­tus, qui ex de­lic­to nos­tro auc­to­ri­ta­te le­gum aut mi­nui­tur aut con­su­mi­tur. 2Mi­nui­tur ex­is­ti­ma­tio, quo­tiens ma­nen­te li­ber­ta­te cir­ca sta­tum dig­ni­ta­tis poe­na plec­ti­mur: sic­uti cum rele­ga­tur quis vel cum or­di­ne mo­ve­tur vel cum pro­hi­be­tur ho­no­ri­bus pu­bli­cis fun­gi vel cum ple­be­ius fus­ti­bus cae­di­tur vel in opus pu­bli­cum da­tur vel cum in eam cau­sam quis in­ci­dit, quae edic­to per­pe­tuo in­fa­miae cau­sa enu­me­ra­tur. 3Con­su­mi­tur ve­ro, quo­tiens mag­na ca­pi­tis mi­nutio in­ter­ve­nit, id est cum li­ber­tas ad­imi­tur: vel­uti cum aqua et ig­ni in­ter­di­ci­tur, quae in per­so­na de­por­ta­to­rum eve­nit, vel cum ple­be­ius in opus me­tal­li vel in me­tal­lum da­tur: ni­hil enim re­fert, nec di­ver­sa poe­na est ope­ris et me­tal­li, ni­si quod re­fu­gae ope­ris non mor­te, sed poe­na me­tal­li sub­iciun­tur.

5Callistratus, On Judicial Inquiries, Book I. The number of judicial inquiries is derived from various sources, and cannot easily be divided into different kinds, unless this is done cursorily. Hence the number of judicial inquiries is generally divided into four kinds; for they usually have reference to the administration of offices or employments; or to disputes concerning pecuniary matters; or inquiry is made concerning someone’s reputation; or a capital crime is investigated. 1Reputation is the condition of unimpaired dignity approved by law and custom, which is either diminished or destroyed by legal authority on account of some offence which we have committed. 2Reputation is impaired whenever we, while retaining our liberty, are punished by a penalty affecting our status; as, for instance, when anyone is relegated or dismissed from his order; or when he is forbidden to discharge the duties of a public office; or when a plebeian is whipped, or sentenced to the public works; or when anyone is in such a condition as to be considered infamous under the terms of the Perpetual Edict. 3Reputation is entirely lost when a great change of civil condition takes place, that is to say, when liberty is forfeited; for example, where anyone is prohibited the use of water and fire, which results when a person is deported, or when a plebeian is condemned to labor connected with the mines, or to the mines; for there is no difference between these two sentences, nor are the penalty of labor connected with the mines and sentence to the mines dissimilar, except that in the former the penalty of civil death is not inflicted, but in the second, the offender is liable to it.

6Gaius li­bro ter­tio re­rum cot­ti­dia­na­rum si­ve au­reo­rum. Si iu­dex li­tem suam fe­ce­rit, non pro­prie ex ma­le­fi­cio ob­li­ga­tus vi­de­tur: sed quia ne­que ex con­trac­tu ob­li­ga­tus est et uti­que pec­cas­se ali­quid in­tel­le­gi­tur, li­cet per in­pru­den­tiam, id­eo vi­de­tur qua­si ex ma­le­fi­cio te­ne­ri in fac­tum ac­tio­ne, et in quan­tum de ea re ae­quum re­li­gio­ni iu­di­can­tis vi­sum fue­rit, poe­nam sus­ti­ne­bit.

6Gaius, On Diurnal Occurrences or Golden Matters, Book III. When a judge makes case his own, he is not, properly speaking, guilty of a criminal offence; but, for the reason that he is not bound by a contract, and certainly can be understood to be, to some extent, to blame, although this may have occurred through ignorance, he is considered to be liable to an action in fætum, as having committed an unlawful act, and he must submit to any penalty which may appear just to the court having jurisdiction of the case.