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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §47.1.3.pr

Delictual Actions: Civil Remedy Versus Criminal Pursuit

Passage 7860 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It explains that for actions arising from delicts, depending on whether the plaintiff seeks pecuniary recovery through ordinary proceedings or criminal punishment through extra ordinem proceedings, they will be referred to ordinary law or required to sign a formal accusation.

[IDEM libro secundo de officio proconsulis. ] §47.1.3.prSi quis actionem, quae ex maleficiis oritur, uelit exsequi: si quidem pecuniariter agere uelit, ad ius ordinarium remittendus erit nec cogendus erit in crimen subscribere: enimuero si extra ordinem eius rei poenam exerceri uelit, tunc subscribere eum in crimen oportebit.
[THE SAME, On the Office of Proconsul, Book 2.] If anyone wishes to pursue an action which arises from a delict: if indeed he wishes to proceed pecuniarily, he must be referred to the ordinary law, and he must not be compelled to sign the accusation; but if indeed he wishes the penalty for that matter to be enforced extra ordinem, then it will be necessary for him to sign the accusation.

Notes

  1. §47.1.3.prad ius ordinarium remittendus erit — Meaning "he must be referred to the ordinary law." Here, `ius ordinarium` refers to the ordinary civil formulaic procedure (the ordinary procedure of private law) as contrasted with the criminal extraordinary procedure (`extra ordinem`). `remittendus erit` is a future passive participle (gerundive) combined with the future tense of the copula `erit`, expressing necessity or obligation in the future.
  2. §47.1.3.prpoenam exerceri uelit — The accusative with infinitive clause `poenam exerceri` is placed as the object of the verb `uelit` (the present subjunctive 3rd person singular of `uolo`). `poenam` (penalty) is the subject accusative, and `exerceri` is the present passive infinitive ("to be enforced" or "to be pursued").
  3. §47.1.3.prsubscribere eum in crimen oportebit — The accusative with infinitive clause `subscribere eum in crimen` acts as the subject of the impersonal verb `oportebit` (the future tense of `oportet`, "it will be necessary"). `eum` is the subject accusative of the infinitive `subscribere`. The phrase `subscribere in crimen` (literally "to sign onto the accusation") refers to the formal procedure in Roman criminal law where an accuser signs the bill of indictment to assume liability for the prosecution.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §47.1.3.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:47.1.3.pr

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