Lack of Legis Actio and Prohibition of Adoption before Legates

Notes

1. §1.16.3.prNec adoptare potest — The subject of the main verb `potest` is understood from the preceding fragment 2, section 1, as the "legate of the proconsul" (`legatus proconsulis`). Since the legate lacks voluntary jurisdiction, he cannot oversee acts like adoption that require formal legal procedures.
2. §1.16.3.prlegis actio — Here, `legis actio` refers not only to standard contentious litigation but to the whole class of formal civil law procedures—such as `in iure cessio` performed under voluntary jurisdiction (`iurisdictio voluntaria`)—which retained their ritualistic, quasi-litigious character during the classical period.