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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §50.3.1.pr-50.3.1.1

Order of Precedence in the Roll of Decurions and Voting

Passage 8696 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It prescribes the criteria for the order of registration of decurions in the municipal roll and states that the same order must be observed when expressing opinions.

[ULPIANUS libro tertio de officio proconsulis. ] §50.3.1.prDecuriones in albo ita scriptos esse oportet, ut lege municipali praecipitur: sed si lex cessat, tunc dignitates erunt spectandae, ut scribantur eo ordine, quo quisque eorum maximo honore in municipio functus est: puta qui duumuiratum gesserunt, si hic honor praecellat, et inter duumuirales antiquissimus quisque prior: deinde hi, qui secundo post duumuiratum honore in re publica functi sunt: post eos qui tertio et deinceps: mox hi qui nullo honore functi sunt, prout quisque eorum in ordinem uenit.
[ULPIANUS, In the Third Book on the Office of Proconsul.] Decurions ought to be registered in the roll in such a manner as is prescribed by the municipal law; but if the law is silent, then their dignities must be regarded, so that they may be registered in that order in which each of them has discharged the highest office in the municipality: for example, those who have held the duumvirate, if this office takes precedence, and among the duumvirals, whoever is the most ancient shall be prior; then those who have discharged the second office in the public administration after the duumvirate; after them, those who have discharged the third, and so on; next, those who have discharged no office, according as each of them entered the order.
§50.3.1.1In sententiis quoque dicendis idem ordo spectandus est, quem in albo scribendo diximus.
In expressing opinions also, the same order must be observed which we have mentioned in registering the roll.

Notes

  1. 50.3.1.prlex cessat — Meaning 'the law is silent' or 'does not apply'. It refers to a situation where the municipal law (lex municipalis) contains no provisions regarding the order of registration in the roll.
  2. 50.3.1.prantiquissimus quisque — The superlative adjective combined with the pronoun quisque expresses 'every most...' or 'in order of the most...'. Here it means 'each of the oldest (most senior) shall have priority'.
  3. 50.3.1.1in albo scribendo — A gerundive construction with the preposition in and the ablative of the gerundive, meaning 'in writing (registering) the roll'. The gerundive scribendo agrees in gender, number, and case with the noun albo.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §50.3.1.pr-50.3.1.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:50.3.1.pr-50.3.1.1

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