Actions at law and their classification
As was noted in chapter 4, the term actio referred to a person's right of instituting proceedings in a court of law for the purpose of obtaining what was due to him.[633] In a narrower sense the same term was used to denote a lawsuit.[634] [635] One should keep in mind that, unlike modem law, Roman law drew no clear distinction between rights and the legal means by which rights were protected or enforced.
Actions were classified in a number of ways.
When considered in reference to the object of the relevant claim, actions were divided into actions relating to things {actiones in rem) and actions relating to persons {actiones in personam)^ An actio in rem was brought in order to establish the plaintiffs claim to some corporeal object (res) as opposed to a claim of the defendant, or to compel the defendant to acknowledge some property right, e.g. a servitude (servitus), which the plaintiff claimed to have. According to Gaius, the actiones in rem were also referred to as vindicationes (vindications).[636] [637] Unlike modem law, which views real actions as being aimed at the person who violated the plaintiffs right to property, the actiones in rem were aimed at the thing or property right claimed rather than at another person. An actio in personam, on the other hand, was brought by the plaintiff in order to compel the defendant to perform a contractual or delictual obligation. Of the personal actions, those aimed at compelling the defendant to give or to do something (dare facere oportere) were termed condictiones. When considered in reference to their sources, actions were divided into actions based on the ius civile (actiones civiles) and actions based on the praetorian edict (actiones honorariae). A further division of actions was that between temporary actions (actiones temporales), i.e. actions which could be brought only within a fixed period of time, and perpetual actions (actiones perpetuae), i.e. actions which could be brought without limit of time.[638] Actiones temporales were, for example, the actiones aediliciae (i.e. actions introduced by the aedilician edict), which had to be brought within a period of six months, and the actiones praetoriae (i.e. actions originating in the praetorian edict), which had to be brought within a year (actiones annales). A further category of actions were the actiones arbitrariae. These were actions with respect to which the judge, if he reached the conclusion that the plaintiff was right, could ask the defendant to restore (restituere) the object claimed to the plaintiff. If the defendant complied, he was absolved; if not, the judge could condemn him to pay a sum of money - a result which was worse for the defendant than the immediate fulfilment of the judge's order (he might be condemned to pay a higher amount and, in some cases, could be branded as an infamis). The term actiones famosae referred to actions in which the condemnation of the defendant entailed infamy (infamia), i.e. the diminution of his social standing accompanied by certain civil disabilities.[639] Actions that could be brought by any Roman citizen as relating to the protection of general public interests (ius populi) were called actiones populares.[640] These actions were of a penal character and, if the defendant was condemned, the penalty was usually paid to the plaintiff. In some cases, however, the penalty was paid to the state or was divided between the state and the accuser. Finally, Roman law also recognised certain preliminary actions {actiones praeiudiciales) which, unlike the ordinary actions, were not directly associated with specific claims. A preliminary action was concerned with establishing or clarifying certain matters upon which an ordinary action depended.[641]size=2 color=black face="Times New Roman">
More on the topic Actions at law and their classification:
- Roman private law developed from the law of procedure, otherwise recognized as the law relating to actions.
- The Law of Actions
- Chapter 6 The Law of Actions
- The classification of property
- Classifications of actions
- Chapter 4 ‘Actions'
- A proposal of classification
- Penal actions (actiones poenales)
- Classification of Things
- Classification of things
- Content and Classification of Contracts
- A classification of legal sentences
- Definition and Classification of Res
- APPENDIX I. THE RELATION OF THE CONTRACTUAL ACTIONS ADIECTITIAE QUALITATIS TO THE THEORY OF REPRESENTATION.
- APPENDIX IL FORMULATION AND LITIS CONSUMPTIO IN THE ACTIONS ADIECTITIAE QUALITATIS.
- The law of obligations is one of the most significant contributions of Roman law to legal culture, illuminating the civil law tradition more than any other branch of Roman law.
- Roman law and global law
- The second branch of the threefold division of all of private law which Gaius employs in his Institutes is that of the law of 'things'.