Opinionum libri
Ex libro II
Dig. 49,1,12Idem libro secundo opinionum. Si constet nullo actu ex lege habito duumvirum creatum, sed tantum vocibus popularium postulatum eisque tunc proconsulem, quod facere non debuit, consensisse: appellatio in re aperta supervacua fuit.
The Same, Opinions, Book II. If it is established that a duumvir has been created without observing the formalities prescribed by law, but only because he was demanded by the voice of the people, to which the Proconsul consented without having any right to do so, an appeal in so plain a case is superfluous.
Dig. 50,1,6Ulpianus libro secundo opinionum. Adsumptio originis, quae non est, veritatem naturae non peremit: errore enim veritas originis non amittitur nec mendacio dicentis se esse, unde non sit, deponitur: neque recusando quis patriam, ex qua oriundus est, neque mentiendo de ea, quam non habet, veritatem mutare potest. 1Filius civitatem, ex qua pater eius naturalem originem ducit, non domicilium sequitur. 2Viris prudentibus placuit duobus locis posse aliquem habere domicilium, si utrubique ita se instruxit, ut non ideo minus apud alteros se collocasse videatur. 3Libertini originem patronorum vel domicilium sequuntur: item qui ex his nascuntur.
Ulpianus, Opinions, Book II. The statement of one’s birthplace, which is not correct, does not alter the fact of a person’s origin; for a man’s actual birthplace is not lost by mistake, nor by his falsely, giving a different place from the true one. Nor can anyone, by rejecting the country where he was born, nor by misrepresentation on this point, change the truth. 1A son derived his origin from the town in which his father was born, but he does not follow the domicile of the latter. 2It was decided by men learned in the law that anyone can have his domicile in two different places, that is where he builds in two different places, and is not considered to reside in one more than in the other. 3Freedmen follow the place of birth or domicile of their patrons, which is also the case with their children.
Dig. 50,2,1Ulpianus libro secundo opinionum. Decuriones, quos sedibus civitatis, ad quam pertinent, relictis in alia loca transmigrasse probabitur, praeses provinciae in patrium solum revocare et muneribus congruentibus fungi curet.
Dig. 50,3,2Idem libro secundo opinionum. In albo decurionum in municipio nomina ante scribi oportet eorum, qui dignitates principis iudicio consecuti sunt, postea eorum, qui tantum municipalibus honoribus functi sunt.
Dig. 50,4,3Idem libro secundo opinionum. Et qui originem ab urbe Roma habent, si alio loco domicilium constituerunt, munera eius sustinere debent. 1His, qui castris operam per militiam dant, nullum municipale munus iniungi potest. ceteri autem privati, quamvis militum cognati sunt, legibus patriae suae et provinciae oboedire debent. 2Si in metallum datus in integrum restitutus sit, perinde ac si nec damnatus fuisset, ad munera vel honores vocatur: nec opponet fortunam et casus tristiores suos ad hoc solum, ne patriae idoneus civis esse videatur. 3Corporalia munera feminis ipse sexus denegat. 4Quo minus honores aut munera iniungantur filio, si nullam habet excusationem, intercedere pater, in cuius potestate est, ius non habet. 5Quod pater non consensit honoribus sive muneribus filii, ne illius patrimonium oneri subiciatur, praestat defensionem, non civem patriae utilitatibus quatenus potest aufert. 6Quamvis maior annis septuaginta et quinque liberorum incolumium pater sit ideoque a muneribus civilibus excusetur, filii tamen eius suo nomine competentia munera adgnoscere debent: ideo enim proprium praemium immunitatis propter filios patribus datum est, quod illi subibunt. 7Vitricus onera munerum civilium nomine privigni sui suscipere nulla iuris ratione cogitur. 8Liberti muneribus fungi debent apud originem patronorum, sed si sua patrimonia habent suffectura oneribus: res enim patronorum muneribus libertinorum subiecta non est. 9Quod pater in reatu criminis alicuius est, filiis impedimento ad honores esse non debet. 10Decaprotos etiam minores annis viginti quinque fieri, non militantes tamen, pridem placuit, quia patrimonii magis onus videtur esse. 11Exactionem tributorum onus patrimonii esse constat. 12Cura frumenti comparandi munus est, et ab eo aetas septuaginta annorum vel numerus quinque incolumium liberorum excusat. 13Eos milites, quibus supervenientibus hospitia praeberi in civitate oportet, per vices ab omnibus, quos id munus contingit, suscipi oportet. 14Munus hospitis in domo recipiendi non personae, sed patrimonii onus est. 15Praeses provinciae provideat munera et honores in civitatibus aequaliter per vices secundum aetates et dignitates, ut gradus munerum honorumque qui antiquitus statuti sunt, iniungi, ne sine discrimine et frequenter isdem oppressis simul viris et viribus res publicae destituantur. 16Si duo filii in patris potestate sint, eodem tempore munera eorum pater sustinere non compellitur. 17Si is, qui duos filios relinquebat, nihil de expediendis muneribus alterius filii ex communi patrimonio supremis suis cavit, propriis sumptibus is et munera et honores, qui ei iniungentur, suscipere debet, quamvis pro altero vivus pater eiusmodi onera expedierit.
The Same, Opinions, Book II. Persons who were born in the City of Rome, and who have established their domicile elsewhere, must accept public employment at Rome. 1No municipal employment can be imposed upon soldiers who are serving in camp. Other private persons, however, even though they are the relatives of soldiers, must obey the laws of their country and their province. 2When anyone is sentenced to the mines, and afterwards obtains complete restitution, he may be called to public employments and honors just as if he had never been convicted; and his misfortune and sad experience cannot be advanced to show that he is not a good citizen of his country. 3Their sex denies to women corporeal employments, and prevents them from obtaining municipal honors or offices. 4A father has no right to prevent a son, who is under his control, from obtaining municipal honors, if he has no good excuse for doing so. 5A father is not required to undertake the defence of his son, if he does not consent for him to obtain municipal honors, or employments, for fear his estate may be subjected to a burden; but he can not prevent him from being liable to his country to the extent of his means. 6Although anyone who is over seventy years of age, or has five children living, is, for either of these reasons, excused from holding civil employments; still, his sons ought to accept offices for which they are qualified, for the immunity granted to fathers on account of their children they themselves do not enjoy. 7A stepfather can, by no rule of law, be compelled to undertake the burdens of civil employment, in the name of his stepson. 8Freedmen should discharge the duties of public employment at the birthplace of their patron, if their pecuniary resources are sufficient to enable them to do so; as the property of their patrons is not liable on account of offices administered by their freedmen. 9When a father has been guilty of some crime, this should be no impediment to the acquisition of municipal honors by his sons. 10It has long since been settled that minors under twenty-five years of age can become decurions; not, however, when they are in military service, because this burden is considered as rather attaching to a patrimonial employment. 11The collection of taxes is considered to be a patrimonial employment. 12The duty of collecting provisions is a personal employment, and the age of seventy years, or the number of five living children, exempts a person from it. 13Persons who are obliged to furnish lodgings to soldiers coming to a city should discharge this duty by turns. 14The duty of furnishing lodgings to soldiers is not a personal, but a patrimonial one. 15The Governor of a province should see that employments and honors are equally distributed among the citizens in turn, according to their age and rank; so that the order of the various degrees of said employments and honors, which have been established of old, shall be followed, to prevent the same person from being indiscriminately and frequently oppressed by their imposition, and the State from being deprived at the same time of men and of power. 16Where there are two sons under the control of their father, he cannot be compelled to be responsible for the employment of both of them at the same time. 17If a man, who left two sons, did not, by his last will, provide out of their common patrimony, for the discharge of the duties of public office by one of them, the latter should not, at his own expense, assume responsibility for any duties or honors which may be enjoined upon him, although the father, while living, might have assumed liability of this kind for one of his sons.
Dig. 50,5,1Ulpianus libro secundo opinionum. Omnis excusatio sua aequitate nititur. sed si praetendentibus aliquod sine iudice credatur, aut passim sine temporis praefinitione, prout cuique libuerit, permissum fuerit se excusare, non erunt, qui munera necessaria in rebus publicis obeant. quare et qui liberorum incolumium iure a muneribus civilibus sibi vindicant excusationem, appellationem interponere debent: et qui tempora praefinita in ordine eiusmodi appellationum peragendo non servaverint, merito praescriptione repelluntur. 1Qui excusatione aliqua utuntur, quotienscumque creati fuerint, etsi iam ante absoluti sunt, necesse habent appellare. sed si per calumniam et saepius idem adversarius vexandi gratia eius, quem scit perpetua vacatione subnixum, id facere probatus erit, sumptus litis exemplo decretorum principalium praestare iubeatur ei, quem sine causa saepius inquietavit. 2Qui in fraudem ordinis in honoribus gerendis, cum inter eos ad primos honores creari possint qui in civitate munerabantur, evitandorum maiorum onerum gratia ad colonos praediorum se transtulerunt, ut minoribus subiciantur, hanc excusationem sibi non paraverunt. 3Quamvis sexaginta quinque annorum aliquis sit et tres liberos incolumes habeat, a muneribus tamen civilibus propter has causas non liberatur.
Ulpianus, Opinions, Book II. Every excuse should be based upon justice. But if confidence should be placed in persons claiming exemption, without a hearing in court, or indiscriminately, without any limitation of time, as each one may choose, and if each one should be permitted to excuse himself, there would not be enough persons to discharge the duties of public office. Therefore, when any persons claim exemption from a public office on account of the number of their children, they should take an appeal, and those who do not observe the time prescribed for the prosecution of an appeal of this kind are with good reason excluded from the benefit of an exception. 1Those who avail themselves of an excuse, and are discharged in consequence, must appeal every time that they are appointed afterwards. When, however, this adversary is proved to have acted through malice, and for the purpose of subjecting them to frequent annoyance, although he is aware that they are entitled to perpetual exemption, the Governor shall order him who is responsible for this annoyance to pay the expenses of litigation, as in the case of the Imperial Decrees. 2Persons eligible to the highest honors, and included among the citizens of a town who, with the design of defrauding their order, betake themselves to the country for the purpose of avoiding the responsibilities of the higher offices, and still remain liable to those attaching to inferior ones, cannot avail themselves of this excuse. 3Although a man may be sixty-five years of age, and have three living children, he cannot, for these reasons, be released from performing the duties of civil employment.
Dig. 50,7,2Idem libro secundo opinionum. Legatus contra rem publicam, cuius legatus est, per alium a principe quid postulare potest. 1Utrum quis deseruerit legationem an ex necessaria causa moram passus sit, ordini patriae suae probare debet. 2Cessatio unius legati ei, qui munus ut oportet obiit, non nocet.
The Same, Opinions, Book II. An envoy appointed to proceed against a municipality can present his claim to the Emperor through another. 1When an envoy abandons his charge, or delays results for some good reason, he must prove this fact before the Order of the town where he resides. 2The neglect of an envoy to perform his duty does not prejudice his colleague.
Dig. 50,7,3Idem ex eodem libro. His, qui non gratuitam legationem susceperunt, legativum ex forma restituatur.
Dig. 50,10,1Ulpianus libro secundo opinionum. Curator operum creatus praescriptione motus ab excusatione perferenda sicuti cessationis nomine, in qua quoad vivit moratus est, heredes suos obligatos reliquit, ita temporis, quod post mortem eius cessit, nullo onere eos obstrinxit. 1Curam operis aquae ductus in alio iam munere constitutus postea susceperat. praepostere visus est petere exonerari priore utrisque iam implicitus, quando, si alterum tantum sustinere eum oportuisset, ante probabilius impetrasset propter prius munus a sequenti excusationem.
Ulpianus, Opinions, Book II. A certain man, having been appointed supervisor of public works, and desiring to be excused, did not succeed, but remained in office until he died. He left his heirs liable, but imposed no responsibility upon them from the time when his death occurred. 1A person who was already exercising the functions of a public office afterwards undertook the construction of an aqueduct. It seemed to be absurd for him to ask to be released from his former employment, when he was already charged with both; because if he had only intended to assume responsibility for one, it is more probable that he would have obtained exemption from the other, on account of that in which he was already engaged.