1. Condemnation or absolution
We have repeatedly referred, in this chapter as well as in previous ones, to obligations being "enforceable" and to the creditor having to "pursue" his claim against his debtor.
What exactly did this entail? It was a significant (and lasting) advance of legal culture that a creditor, already in pre-classical times, could no longer take the law into his own hands and resort to self-help.[3944] [3945] Instead, he had to go to court in order to establish his claim in accordance with the rules of civil procedure. Under the formulary system of classical law he first had to ask the praetor to grant him an action; the formula of this action contained the programme of litigation, i.e. the sum total of all matters which the iudex had to investigate in the second stage of the proceedings and which thus determined his decision. As far as that decision was concerned, there were only two alternatives: condemnation or absolution. All formulae ended with the stereotype order (to thejudge).. condemnato, si non paret, absoivito".152 In the latter case the plaintiff lost his claim completely.[3946] But what did he ultimately get if the defendant was condemned? Where a specific sum of money (certa pecunia) was owed, it was, of course, this sum of money which became the object of the condemnation: "Si paret Nm Nm A" A° sestertium decem milia dare oportere, iudex Nm Nm A° A° sestertium decem milia condemnato, si non paret, absolvito."[3947] [3948] [3949] Where a specific object was owed (certum dare obligation), thejudge had to assess the pecuniary value of that object: "Si paret N"' ¹" A" A° tritici Afnci optimi modios centum dare oportere, quanti ea res est, tantam pecuniam iudex Nra N"' A° A" condemnato, si non paret, absoivito."153 Then there was a variety of situations where the relevant clause read "quanti ea res erit, tantam pecuniam..."!56 or "quanti ea res fuit, tantam pecuniam...":[3950] here, again, thejudge was required to assess the pecuniary value of the object in dispute: either at the time when judgment was rendered or at a certain moment in the past (namely the instant when the delict was committed). Many practically very important claims were based on a formula which contained the clause "quidquid Nm Nm A° A° dare facere oportet" in their intentio: the bonae fidei iudicia belonged to this category, and so did actiones stricti iuris where an incertum was owed. 2.
More on the topic 1. Condemnation or absolution:
- THE ASSESSMENT OF THE SUM OF CONDEMNATION
- We have now sketched the framework within which to appreciate how the Roman jurists applied and interpreted the individual requirements for condemnation in terms of the lex Aquiiia.
- Clementia Caesaris: Seneca and Nero
- Statutory relief for non-Romans: the lex Calpurnia
- Mandatum morte solvitur
- "Solutio propria", "in praecisa forma et specie obligationis"[3885] (to use the terminology of the European ius commune) has always been, and still is, the most important way of terminating obligations.
- Remedies
- Classifications of actions
- The execution of judicial decisions under the formulary system
- The actio pro socio
- Private criminal law and public criminal law
- Roman Law Terms with Letters Ð
- The Myth of Theuth
- Introduction
- Pluralism has been one of the most dominant frameworks for understanding politics in mainstream political science.
- Anderson Matthew (ed.). Toward a Critique of Guilt: Perspectives from Law and the Humanities. JAI Press,2005. — 168 p., 2005
- The Culmination of Roman Legal Science