[ULPIANUS libro uicensimo tertio ad edictum. ] §50.5.13.prPraetor eos, quoscumque intellegit operam dare non posse ad iudicandum, pollicetur se excusaturum: forte quod in perpetuum quis operam dare non potest, quod in eam ualetudinem incidit, ut certum sit eum ciuilia officia subire non posse: aut si alio morbo laboret, ut suis rebus superesse non possit: uel si quid sacerdotium nancti sint, ut discedere ab eo sine religione non possint.
[ULPIANUS, in the twenty-third book on the Edict.] The praetor promises that he will excuse whoever he understands cannot give attention to judging: for example, because someone cannot give attention in perpetuity, because he has fallen into such ill health that it is certain he cannot undergo civil duties; or if he should suffer from another illness, so that he cannot attend to his own affairs; or if they have obtained some priesthood, so that they cannot depart from it without religious impediment.
nam et hi in perpetuum excusantur.
For these also are excused in perpetuity.
§50.5.13.1Duo genera tribuendae muneris publici uacationis sunt, unum plenius, cum et militiae datur, aliud exiguius, cum nudam muneris uacationem acceperint.
There are two kinds of granting exemption from public duty, one more complete, when it is also given from military service, the other more limited, when they have received bare exemption from duty.
§50.5.13.2Qui autem non habet excusationem, etiam inuitus iudicare cogitur.
He, however, who has no excuse, is compelled to judge even against his will.
§50.5.13.3Si post causam actam coeperit se excusare iudex, si quidem priuilegio, quod habuit antequam susciperet iudicium, uelit se excusare, nec audiendus est: semel enim adgnoscendo iudicium renuntiat excusationi.
If, after the case has been undertaken, the judge begins to excuse himself, indeed if he wishes to excuse himself by a privilege which he had before he undertook the trial, he is not to be heard; for by once accepting the trial he renounces the excuse.
quod si postea iusta causa incidit, ut iudex uel ad tempus excusetur, non debet in alium iudicium transferri, si cum captione id futurum est alterutrius.
But if a just cause arises afterwards, so that the judge is excused even for a time, the trial ought not to be transferred to another, if this is to happen with disadvantage to either of the parties.
tolerabilius denique est interdum iudicem qui semel cognouerat tantisper exspectare, quam iudici nouo rem rursum iudicandam committere.
Ultimately, indeed, it is sometimes more tolerable to wait for a while for the judge who had once investigated the case, than to commit the matter to a new judge to be judged again.