[ULPIANUS libro secundo opinionum. ] §50.5.1.prOmnis excusatio sua aequitate nititur.
Every excuse relies upon its own equity.
sed si praetendentibus aliquod sine iudice credatur, aut passim sine temporis praefinitione, prout cuique libuerit, permissum fuerit se excusare, non erunt, qui munera necessaria in rebus publicis obeant.
But if those who allege something should be believed without a judge, or if it should be permitted everywhere to excuse oneself without a pre-defined time, just as it pleases each person, there will not be those who perform the necessary duties in public affairs.
quare et qui liberorum incolumium iure a muneribus ciuilibus sibi uindicant excusationem, appellationem interponere debent: et qui tempora praefinita in ordine eiusmodi appellationum peragendo non seruauerint, merito praescriptione repelluntur.
Therefore, those who claim for themselves an excuse from civil duties by right of surviving children must also interpose an appeal; and those who have not observed the pre-defined times in conducting the order of such appeals are deservedly barred by prescription.
§50.5.1.1Qui excusatione aliqua utuntur, quotienscumque creati fuerint, etsi iam ante absoluti sunt, necesse habent appellare.
Those who make use of some excuse, as often as they are nominated, even if they have already been released beforehand, are obliged to appeal.
sed si per calumniam et saepius idem aduersarius uexandi gratia eius, quem scit perpetua uacatione subnixum, id facere probatus erit, sumptus litis exemplo decretorum principalium praestare iubeatur ei, quem sine causa saepius inquietauit.
But if the same adversary is proved to have done this maliciously and repeatedly for the sake of harassing one whom he knows to be supported by a perpetual exemption, he should be ordered, following the example of imperial decrees, to pay the costs of the lawsuit to the one whom he has repeatedly disturbed without cause.
§50.5.1.2Qui in fraudem ordinis in honoribus gerendis, cum inter eos ad primos honores creari possint qui in ciuitate munerabantur, euitandorum maiorum onerum gratia ad colonos praediorum se transtulerunt, ut minoribus subiciantur, hanc excusationem sibi non parauerunt.
Those who, to the fraud of their order in bearing honors, although they could be nominated to the chief honors among those who performed duties in the city, transferred themselves to the class of tenant farmers for the sake of avoiding greater burdens, so that they might be subjected to lesser ones, have not secured this excuse for themselves.
§50.5.1.3Quamuis sexaginta quinque annorum aliquis sit et tres liberos incolumes habeat, a muneribus tamen ciuilibus propter has causas non liberatur.
Although someone may be sixty-five years of age and have three surviving children, he is nevertheless not released from civil duties on account of these reasons.