[CALLISTRATUS libro quinto de cognitionibus. ] §48.7.7.prCreditores si aduersus debitores suos agant, per iudicem id, quod deberi sibi putant, reposcere debent: alioquin si in rem debitoris sui intrauerint id nullo concedente, diuus Marcus decreuit ius crediti eos non habere.
[CALLISTRATUS, On Cognitions, Book 5] If creditors take action against their debtors, they ought to demand through a judge that which they think is owed to them; otherwise, if they enter upon the property of their debtor without anyone granting it, the deified Marcus decreed that they do not have the right of credit.
uerba decreti haec sunt. 'Optimum est, ut, si quas putas te habere petitiones, actionibus experiaris: interim ille in possessione debet morari, tu petitor es'. et cum Marcianus diceret: 'uim nullam feci': Caesar dixit: 'tu uim putas esse solum, si homines uulnerentur? uis est et tunc, quotiens quis id, quod deberi sibi putat, non per iudicem reposcit.
The words of the decree are as follows: "It is best that, if you think you have any claims, you try them by actions; in the meantime, he ought to remain in possession, and you are the claimant." And when Marcianus said, "I used no force," Caesar said: "Do you think there is force only if people are wounded? There is force also whenever anyone demands back what he thinks is owed to him not through a judge.
non puto autem nec uerecundiae nec dignitati nec pietati tuae conuenire quicquam non iure facere.
Moreover, I do not think it comports with either your modesty, your dignity, or your piety to do anything not in accordance with law.
quisquis igitur probatus mihi fuerit rem ullam debitoris non ab ipso sibi traditam sine ullo iudice temere possidere, eumque sibi ius in eam rem dixisse, ius crediti non habebit'.
Therefore, whoever shall be proved to me to possess rashly, without any judge, any property of a debtor not delivered to him by the debtor himself, and to have declared the law for himself regarding that property, shall not have the right of credit."