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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §5.1.15.pr-5.1.15.1

Liability of a Judge for Making Litigation His Own

Passage 896 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

The text defines the scope of liability when a filius familias acting as a judge makes the litigation his own, and outlines the conditions under which a judge is deemed to have done so through malice, favoritism, animosity, or corruption.

[IDEM libro uicensimo primo ad edictum. ] §5.1.15.prFilius familias iudex si litem suam faciat, in tantam quantitatem tenetur, quae tunc in peculio fuit, cum sententiam dicebat.
[THE SAME, in the twenty-first book on the Edict.] If a filius familias acting as a judge should make the litigation his own, he is liable to the extent of the amount that was in his peculium at the time he rendered the judgment.
§5.1.15.1Iudex tunc litem suam facere intellegitur, cum dolo malo in fraudem legis sententiam dixerit (dolo malo autem uidetur hoc facere, si euidens arguatur eius uel gratia uel inimicitia uel etiam sordes), ut ueram aestimationem litis praestare cogatur.
A judge is understood to make the litigation his own when he has rendered a judgment with malice aforethought in fraud of the law (moreover, he is deemed to do this with malice aforethought if his obvious favoritism, animosity, or even corruption is proved), so that he is compelled to pay the true valuation of the litigation.

Notes

  1. 5.1.15.prlitem suam faciat — The phrase 'litem suam facere' (to make the litigation one's own) is a technical legal term referring to a judge incurring personal liability for a quasi-delict by rendering an improper or biased decision. The present subjunctive 'faciat' expresses a hypothetical condition.
  2. 5.1.15.prin peculio — Since a 'filius familias' (a son under paternal power) could not hold independent property, his liability for making the litigation his own was limited to the amount of his 'peculium' (allowance or special property managed by the son with the paterfamilias' permission) at the time of judgment.
  3. 5.1.15.1ut ueram aestimationem litis praestare cogatur — The conjunction 'ut' introduces a consecutive (result) clause, describing the legal consequence that follows when a judge acts with malice, namely, being compelled to pay the actual value of the suit.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §5.1.15.pr-5.1.15.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:5.1.15.pr-5.1.15.1

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