Roman Law Terms with Letters D

D. Abbreviation for damno ( = I condemn), see A.

Damnare. To condemn a defendant in a civil trial (see condemnatio) or an accused in a criminal pro­ceeding. In the latter meaning the term is mostly used of a condemnatory judgment for crimes punished by death (in trimine capitali).

Betti, RISG 56 (1915) 31; A. Hagerstrom, Der Obliga- tionsbegriff 1 (1927) 443; M. Kaser, Das Altrom. lus, 1949, 127.

Damnare ad bestias. See bestiis obicere.

Damnare in metallum (metalla). See metallum.

Damnas. Occurred in the form of a legacy called legatum per damnationem: heres meus damnas esto dare (= my heir shall be obliged to give).—See LEGATUM PER DAMNATIONEM.

Thomas, RHD 10 (1931) 211.

Damnatio. See damnare, condemnatio.

Damnatio in ludum. See ludi gladiatorii, gladia­tores.

Damnatio memoriae. A disgrace inflicted on the memory of a person (memoria damnata) condemned to death and executed, or dead before the criminal prosecution was finished. Only crimes against the state, such as treason (maiestas, perduellio) brought about this ignominia post mortem, the extinction of the memory of the individual thus stigmatized. His name was canceled on documents and destroyed on monuments; his last will and donations mortis causa lost validity. The damnatio memoriae was also ap­plied to emperors, whose conduct was unworthy, during their lifetime or posthumously. The pertinent decree was issued by the senate.

Brassloff, RE 4; Balsdon, OCD; Orestano, BIDR 44 (1937) 327; Vittinghoff, Der Staatsfeind in der rom. Kaiserzeit. Untersuchungen zur damnatio memoriae, 1936.

Damnatus. Condemned in a criminal trial for a crime calling for capital punishment.—D. 48.20; C. 4.49.— See BONA DAMNATORUM.

Damnosus. Threatening (involving) loss. In rela­tions between neighbors the term indicates a defective building which may damage the neighboring prop­erty.—See DAMNUM INFECTUM.

Daube, 57 Solazzi (1948) 117.

Damnum. A loss, expenditure, suffered by the victim of an offense, particularly a loss ensuing for the owner of a thing from a damage done thereto. “He who suffered damage through his own fault is not considered to have sustained damage” (D. 50.17.203). Responsibility for damages inflicted on another’s property is either contractual (resulting from duties assumed in a contract) or delictual resulting from a tort, a wrongful act (delictum) committed by an offender. See COMMUNICARE, NEMO DAMNUM FACIT,

SARCIRE.

Leonhard, RE 4; Baudry, DS 1; E. Levy, Privatstrafe und Schadensersatz, 1915; Thomas, RHD 10 (1931) 211; Ratti, BIDR 40 (1932) 169; P. Voci, Risarcimento del danno e processo formulare, 1938, 19; idem, St Ferrini 2 (Univ. Sacro Cuore, Milan, 1947) 361; Daube, On the use of the term d., St Solazzi, 1948, 93.

Damnum decidere. To come to terms concerning the damages to be paid by the offender to the person who sustained a loss.

Daube, 5/ Solazzi, 1948, 99.

Damnus emergens. A real factual loss which one suf­fers in his property, a loss which can be evaluated in money (pecuniary loss). Ant. lucrum cessans = a loss of a reasonable profit. Both terms do not belong to the Roman juristic language, but the distinction be­tween two kinds of losses is classical.

P. Voci, Risarcimento del danno, 1938, 63.

Damnum fatale. A damage done by an unavoidable accident (vis maior).

Damnum infectum (or nondum factum). A damage not yet done but threatening one’s property by the defective state of a neighbor’s property. Originally the owner of the threatened property had against his neighbor an actio damni infecti (which even after the introduction of the formulary procedure was con­ducted in the form of legis actio). Later praetorian law introduced specific remedies, see cautio damni INFECTI, MISSIO IN POSSESSIONEM DAMNI INFECTI NOMINE.

MUM.

Baudry, DS 1; Cuq, DS 5, 933; Branca, 5/ Ratti, 1934, 161; idem, Danno temuto, 1937; M. F. Lepri, Missiones in possessionem, 1939, 90.

Damnum iniuria datum. See lex aquilia.

Damnum praestare. To make good the loss incurred by a person whose property was damaged.—See SARCIRE, RESARCIRE.

Dardanarius. A merchant in corn and other kind of food who through illicit machinations raised the prices or used forged weights.

Rostowzew, RE 7, 142.

Dare. To give, hand over a thing for the purpose of making the receiver the owner thereof. This is the general meaning when a contractual obligation con­cerned a dare. The contents of the term might be limited by the indication of a minor purpose, as, e.g., pignori dare (= to give as a pledge), utendum dare (= to give for use), precario dare (= to give as a precarium)/—See contractus innominati.—Dare, in criminal trials, connected with a sentence, in phrases as dare in metalla, ad bcstias, in exsilium, etc. = to condemn.—Dare in the meaning of “to appoint” refers to the appointment of a tutor or curator by a magistrate or a private person or of a representative or agent for one’s private affairs. Dare bonorum possessionem refers to the praetorian act of granting a bonorum possessio.—See the following items.

Grosso, In materia di obbligazioni di dare, SDH I 6 (1940) ; F. Pastori, Pro filo dogmatico deirobbligazione rom., 1951, 118.

Dare actionem. To grant an action. The praetor “gives an action” in cases where the ius civile re­fused it. In a larger sense dare actionem (or indi­cium) is the praetor’s approval of the formula agreed upon by the parties. Ant. denegare actionem (= non dare actionem). Syn. reddere actionem.— D. 44.5.

P. Kruger, ZSS 16 (1895) 1.

Dare iudicem. To appoint a judge in a civil trial.— See iudex.

Datio. An act of giving (dare). It applies to all meanings of dare (datio tutoris, bonorum possessio­n's, iudicis, pignoris, etc.).

Datio dotis. Constitution of a dowry by immediately handing it over. Datio dotis is also the term em­ployed for the delivery of things promised as a dowry by dictio, promissio or pollicitatio dotis.

Datio in solutum. The payment of a thing other than that which originally was due to the creditor who accepts it as a discharge of the former obligation. The creditor was not obliged to do so. Only in Justinian’s law a debtor who had no cash at his disposal could offer payment in immovables at a fair price.

H. Steiner, D. i. s., 1914; De Francisci, L’evizione della res data i. s., 1915; Solazzi, RendLomb 61 (1928) 341; M. Ricca-Barberis, L’evizione nella d. i. s., RISG 6 (1931) 3; S. Solazzi, L’cstinzione deU’obbligazione, 2nd ed. 1935, 161.

Datio tutoris. See tutor dativus.

De actionibus. A dissertation written in Greek (peri agog on), of pre-Justinian origin and dealing gen­erally with various more important actions. It is rather the work of a practitioner than of a scholar.

Editions: G. E. Heimbach (Jr.), Observationes iuris Graeco-Romani 1 (1830) ; Zachariae, ZSS 14 (1893) 88; J. and P. Zepos, Jus Graeco-Romanum 3 (Athens, 1931) 301.—Ferrini, Opcre 1 (1929) 365; G. Segre, Mel Girard 2 (1913) 543; Brugi, Annuario dell’Istituto di storia del dir. rom. Catania 13—14 (1914-15) ; P. Collinet, La pro­cedure par libclle, 1932, 501; Scheltema, TR 17 (1940) 420.

De gradibus (cognationum). A dissertation on the degrees of cognatic relationship, written by an un­known jurist, presumably of the classical period.

Editions: in all collections of Fontes, see General Bibliog­raphy, Ch. XII.—Berger, RE 10, 1192; Scherillo, StCagl 18 (1931) 65.

De peculiis. A Byzantine dissertation, called not quite appropriately Tractatus de peculiis in the literature. Written about the middle of the eleventh century it deals with various topics connected with the reciprocal acquisitions and rights of succession of father and son, of some kinds of peculia and the like.

Editions: G. E. Heimbach (Jr.), Anecdota 2 (1840) 247; J. and P. Zepos, Jus Graeco-romanum 3 (Athens, 1931) 345.—Berger, Scr Ferrini 3 (Univ. Sacro Cuore, Milan, 1948) 174.

De piano. In matters of minor importance the magis­trate acted more informally, “from the level” “out of court,” without any preceding causae cognitio, either personally or through officials of his bureau acting under his supervision. The proceedings were public and there was no platform (tribunal) for the acting officers. Ant. pro tribunali.—See crimina levia.

Düll, ZSS 52 (1932) 170; Wenger, ibid. 59 (1932) 62; 62 (1942) 366.

Debere. To owe, to be under an obligation to pay a sum or to perform something, an obligation of con­tractual or delictual origin which was suable at ius civile or ius praetorium.—See debitum, debitor.

G. Segre, St Bonfante 3 (1930) 524.

Debitor. A debtor, “he from whom money may be exacted against his will” (D. 50.16.108). Therefore a debitor is not he who “has a just exception against the creditor’s claim” (D. 50.17.66). Syn. reus de- bendi. Ant. creditor.—See debere.

Debitor civitatis (reipublicae). A debtor of a civitas or municipality. He could not obtain any honorary position (honor) until he paid his debt. Such debtors were subject to special executory measures.—C. 11.33; 40.

Debitor debitor is. A debtor’s debtor.—C. 4.15.

Debitor fisci. A debtor of the fisc. Imperial legisla­tion established special rules for the execution of fiscal claims.—C. 10.2.

Debitor reipublicae. See debitor civitatis.

Debitum. Both the object of the obligation (id quod debetur — what is due) and the obligatory tie be­tween debtor and creditor. Ant. indebitum.

Humbert, DS 2.

Decanus.

Decedere de possessione. To give up, to abandon possession. See MISSIONES IN POSSESSIONEM.

Decemprimi. (Also decemprimi curiales.) A group of ten persons selected from the members of a larger body (the senate under the Republic where the decemprimi were the heads of the senatorial de­curiae, municipal senates, sacerdotal colleges). They enjoyed special privileges. In the military hierarchy of the later Empire decemprimi occupied a privileged position in the military unit attached to the imperial paface (domestici).

Brandis, RE 4; Humbert, DS 2.

Decemvirales leges. See lex duodecim tabularum, DECEMVIRI LEGIBUS SCRIBUNDIS.

Decemviri agris dandis assignandis. See triumviri COLONIAE DEDUCENDAE.

De Ruggiero, DE 2, 430.

Decemviri legibus scribundis. A commission com­posed of ten persons appointed in 451 b.c. for the codification of laws. They continued their work in the following year. During the two years of their work, the activity of all magistracies was suspended and the decemviri assumed the governmental func­tions vested in the consular imperium.—See lex duo­decim TABULARUM, VERGINIA.

Kiibler, RE 4, 2257; Berger, RE 4A, 1905; Momigliano, OCD; Humbert, DS 2 ; Moschella, NDI 4.

Decemviri sacris faciundis. See duoviri sacris faci- UNDIS.

Decemviri stlitibus iudicandis. Originally minor judicial magistrates (see vigintisexviri), they be­came later chairmen of the judicial courts formed within the tribunal of the centumviri.

Humbert, DS 2; Kiibler, RE 4, 2260; Vaglieri, DE 2; M. Nicolau, Causa liberalis, 1933, 16.

Decernere. To issue a decree (decretum) when ap­plied to the senate; to decide a judicial matter when applied to a decision of a magistrate or the emperor See DECRETA.

Decessor. A predecessor in office. A provincial of­ficial whose successor in office had already been appointed, was required to remain in service until the new incumbent arrived in the province. Ant. successor.—C. 1.49.

Decidere. To decide about a judicial matter by judg­ment (see decisio) ; to settle a controversy by a transaction between the adversaries or by an oath.— See TRANSACTIO, IUSIURANDUM VOLUNTARIUM.

Decidere damnum. See damnum decidere.

Decima. One-tenth. One-tenth of the estate was the part which according to the Augustan lex iulia et papia poppaea one spouse could take when the other died intestate. An increase of this tenth part by further tenths was permitted in proportion to the number of children. The pertinent provisions (deci­mariae sc. leges') were abolished in a.d. 410.—C. 8.57.

Decisio. See DECIDERE, QUINQUAGINTA DECISIONES.

Declarare. To declare (e.g., voluntatem = one’s will). With reference to judicial judgments = to establish a specific legal situation (ownership, a servitude).

Decoctor. (From decoquere.) An embezzler or a bankrupt, whose property was sold through bonorum venditio. In a later trial he was obliged to give a cautio iudicatum solvi (a security for the payment of the judgment debt).

Decollatio. Decapitation. Syn. capitis amputatio.

Decreta. See decernere, bonorum possessio decre­talis, and the following items.

Decreta decurionum. Decrees issued by the municipal senate (ordo decurionum) on various matters. They could not be rescinded unless public utility required such a measure.—D. 50.9; C. 10.47.—See decreta MAGISTRATUUM.

Decreta Frontiana (Frontiniana). A juristic work (collection of decisions of the imperial court?), at­tributed to the jurist Titius Aristo.—See aristo.

T. Mommsen, Jur. Schriften 2 (1905) 22.

Decreta magistratuum. Orders of the magistrates of a judicial (interdicta, missiones in possessionem, or concerning bonorum possessiones) or administrative character (imposition of fines, multae, or ordaining a pignoris capio) to enforce compliance with their ordinances. In matters concerning guardianship or curatorship decreta are very frequent. Decreta are issued after causae cognitio and pro tribunali. The decreta of provincial governors had a similar char­acter. C. 5.72. See IN INTEGRUM RESTITUTIO.

Hesky, RE 4; De Ruggiero, DE 2; Jobbe-Duval, St Bonfante 3 (1930) 165.

Decreta principum. Imperial enactments (decrees) issued by the emperor in the exercise of jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters, both as final judgments and as interlocutory decisions during the proceed­ings. They rank among the imperial constitutions and had some importance, although no binding force, in similar future cases inasmuch as they could be considered and applied as precedents. When pub­lished by order of the emperor they acquired general validity as the edicts of the emperor.—See consti­tutiones principum (Bibl.).

Decretum divi Marci. A decree of the emperor Marcus Aurelius forbidding creditors to take arbitrarily away things or money due from their debtors, without re­sorting for help to the competent authorities. “Credi­tors should claim what they believe to be due to them through the intermediary of a judge” (D. 4.2.13). A creditor who contrary to that decree proceeded on his own with force against the debtor lost his claim.

Decuma. The tenth part (pars decima) of natural produce paid in kind (corn, wine, oil) as a rent or property-tax in Italy and provinces.

Liebenam, RE 4; Humbert, DS 2; Kaser, ZSS 62 (1942) 61; De Ruggiero, DE 2; L. Clerici, Economic, e finanse dei Romani, 1 (1943) 477.

Decuria. A group (unit) of ten men. In ancient times, the decuria had a military and political char­acter, since the curiae, into which the oldest tribus were divided (altogether 30 curiae), were composed of ten decuriae, each of them with ten men. Decuriae were also the smallest units in the cavalry. The Roman senate had also its decuriae (of ten men) and preserved this name afterwards when its decuriae were groups of one tenth of the whole nhmber of the senators. Finally, professional corporations and those of· subaltern officials as well, were divided in decuriae, often with more than ten members. Imperial consti­tutions of the fourth century deal with various de­curiae of officials in the city of Rome (decuria urbis Romae), such as fiscal clerks (fiscales), scribae (librarii — copyists), censuales (=tax assessment clerks).—C. 11.14.—See the following items.

Kiibler, RE 4; Humbert, DS 2; Bellino, DE 2; Moschella, NDI 4.

Decuria lictoria. See lictores.

Decuriae apparitorum. Associations of apparitores, organized in decuriae. They were granted some rights as corporate bodies (inheriting, holding and manumitting slaves).—See decuriales.

Kornemann, RE 4, 401; P. W. Duff, Personality in R. private law, 1938, 32, 101; B. Eliachevitch, Personnalite juridique 1942, 241; Jones, J RS 39 (1949) 40.

Decuriae iudicum. Groups of jurors (of 300 each?) in the list of persons qualified for this service. Origi­nally there were three decuriae, of senators, equites and tribuni aerarii, respectively. The first to be eliminated were the tribuni aerarii; then Augustus removed the senators after which the equestrian class alone functioned as judges. The number of decuriae iudicum increased to five.

Kiibler, RE 6, 299.

Decuriae senatus. See decuria.

Decuriales. Members of decuriae in private corpora­tions or of associations of subaltern officers (decuriae apparitorum).

De Ruggiero, DE 2.

Decurio. The commander of a small cavalry unit, decuria.—See turma.

Mancini, DE 2.

Decurionatus. The office of a decurio.—See decuri­ones, ORDO DECURIONUM.

Decuriones. Members of a municipal senate (ordo decurionum) elected for life. Vacant posts were filled at five-year intervals. Eligible were former municipal magistrates with a census of at least one hundred thousand sesterces. Persons of particular

worth to the municipium and its protectors (patroni municipii) residing in Rome were honored by mem­bership in the municipal senate. The decuriones de­cided about all matters involving the interests of the community, appointed local magistrates, and func­tioned as a court of appeal on fines imposed by municipal officers.—D. 50.2; C. 10.32; 33; 35; 12.16. See ORDO DECURIONUM, DECRETA DECURIONUM, AL­BUM CURIAE, DUAE PARTES.

Kiibler, RE 4; Kornemann, RE 16, 621; Humbert, DS 2; Mancini, DE 2, 1515; Gaudemet, lura 2 (1951) 44.

Decuriones pedanei. Members of the municipal senate who had not been municipal magistrates before. They were appointed by duoviri (or quattuorviri) iuri dicundo to seats which became vacant because of the death of a decurio or his removal, as the result of a condemnation in a criminal trial.

Mommsen, Jur. Schriften, 3 (1907) 38.

Dedere noxae. See noxa.

De Visscher, N oxalite, 1947, 400 and passim.

Dedere se hosti. To surrender to the enemy in the course of a war.—See deditio, dediticii.

Dedicatio. A religious ceremony by which an object (a temple or an altar) was consecrated to gods. Solemn words were pronounced on such an occasion by a pontiff and sometimes by a magistrate, in con­formity with the statute or decree of the senate by which the consecratio was ordained (lex dedica- tionis). See RES SACRAE, LOCUS SACER, DUOVIRI AEDI

DEDICANDAE.

Wissowa, RE 4; Pottier, DS 2; De Ruggiero, DE 1, 144; 2, 1553; S. Brassloff, Studien zur rom. Rechtsgeschichte, 1925; Paoli, RHD 24-25 (1947) 185.

Dediticii. The citizens of a foreign state or commu­nity who, vanquished in a war with Rome, surrend­ered to the power and protection of Rome (deditio). They constituted a specific group of the Roman popu­lation; they were free but lacked all public rights and citizenship (nullius civitatis). Their legal status as peregrini dediticii could be improved by unilateral concessions granted by Rome to individuals or groups. But even the general grant of Roman citizenship to peregrines by the constitution of the emperor Cara­calla excluded the dediticii. The status of dediticii, termed by Justinian dediticia libertas, was abolished by him (C. 7.5.1).—See constitute antoniniana (Bibl.), DEDITIO, DEDITICII EX LEGE AELIA SENTIA.

Sherwin-White, OCD\ Schulten, RE 4; Gayet and Hum­bert, DS 2; Moore, Arch. f. lat. Lexikographie, 11 (1900) 81; G. Moinier, Les peregrines deditices, 1930; G. Boz- zoni, La const. Antoniniana e i d., 1933; Stroux, Philologus 88 (1933) 287; Momigliano, Ann. Scuola Norm. Superiore di Pisa Ser. 2, v. 3 (1934) 361; Luzzatto, SDH I 2 (1936) 211; A. d’Ors, AHDE 15 (1944) 162; Bell, JRS 37 (1947) 17; Tsherikover, Jour, juristic Papyrology 4 (1950) 203; Schonbauer, ibid. 6 (1952) 17.

Dediticii ex lege Aelia Sentia. Slaves who had been found guilty of a crime, had been put in bonds by their masters by way of punishment, or had been handed over to fight with men or beasts, could become free through manumission, but they obtained free­dom of the lowest degree and could never be admitted to Roman citizenship. They were unable to make a will or to inherit under one.

Deditio. The surrender of an enemy community de­feated in war with Rome. Its territory was annexed, and its citizens became peregrini dediticii.—See dedi­ticii.

E. Täubler, Imperium Romanum, 1913, 14; Heuss, Völker­rechtliche Grundlagen der röm. Aussenpolitik, 1933, 60; Frezza, SDHI 4 (1938) 412,; Paradisi, St Solmi 1 (1941) 287 ; A. Magdelain, Les origines de la sponsio, 1943, 87 ; De Visscher, St Riccobono 2 (1936); idem, CRAI 1946, 82 ; idem, NoxalitĂ©, 1947, 72 ; LĂ©vy-Bruhl, NouvelIes Ă©tudes, 1947, 116; La Rosa, Iura 1 (1950) 283; Piganiol, RIDA 5 (1950) 339.

Dedoken. The Greek text of Justinian’s constitution by which the Digest was promulgated (Dec. 16, 533). It apparently was an earlier draft than the Latin edition, Tanta, and is frequently more exact than the latter. See TANTA, DIGESTA IUSTINIANI.

Ebrard, ZSS 40 (1919) 113; Berger, Byzantion 17 (1944/5) 14 (= BIDR 55-56, Suppl. Post-Bellum, 1952, 275)

Deducete in coloniam. To take colonists from Rome or some other place to a colony to be founded.

Deducete in domum. See deductio in domum.

Deducete in iudicium. To bring a suit in court to the joinder of issue (see litis contestate). Thus the in iure stage was finished and the trial could enter the second stage before the judge (apud iudicem).—See RES IN IUDICIUM DEDUCTA, EXCEPTIO REI IUDICATAE.

Deductio. (In suits of a bonorum emptor.) If the buyer of the property of an insolvent debtor (see bonorum emptor, bonorum vendite) sued some­body, he had to do so cum deductione, i.e., to deduct from his claim whatever he himself owed to the de­fendant as the bankrupt’s successor. This was a kind of compensation but it went farther than the normal compensate since debts of a different nature (e.g., money with debts in kind) might be set off and even debts falling due in the future were taken into account.

Solazzi, St Padda 1 (1906) 347; idem, Concorso dei credi­tori 2 (1938) 146; idem, Compensazione² (1950) 65.

Deductio in domum mariti. The solemn introduction of the bride into the husband’s house, accompanied by religious ceremonies. It was considered the be­ginning of the marriage.

E. Levy, Hergang der röm. Ehescheidung, 1925, 68; Μ. Rage-Brocard, Rites de mariage. La d., 1934; Orestano, BIDR 47 (1940) 306.

Deductio quae moribus fit. See vis ex conventu.

Deductio servitutis. The constitution of a servitude by the seller of an immovable in favor of either the alienated land or of another plot owned by himself. Thus the seller either conceded the buyer a servitude on his own land or reserved such a right for his property (deducta servitude).—See deductio usus- FRUCTUS.

S. Solazzi, Requisiti e modi di costituzione delle servitù prediali, 1947, 87 ; 135.

Deductio ususfructus. A mode of constituting a usu­fruct on behalf of the owner who transfers his prop­erty to another (deducto usuf ructu) or of a legatee in a testament. Syn. with deducere are detrahere, excipere.

Humbert, DS 2; U. v. Liibtow, Schenkungen der Eltern, 1949, 24; D’Ors, Fschr Schulz 1 (1951) 270; Sanfilippo, AnCat 4 (1950) 152.

Defectus conditionis. See conditio deficit.

Defendere. To defend one’s own (defendere propriam causam) or another’s matter (defendere alienam causam, for instance of an absent person) in court. Defendere another means “to do what the principal would do in the trial and to give appropriate security (cavere)” (D. 3.3.35.3). A party to a trial who does not fulfil his procedural duties or is not duly represented, is considered indefensus (not defended) and must submit to disagreeable executory measures. Defendere may also refer to the defended object or right (defendere⁴ fundum, servitutem, hereditatem, possessionem, etc,).—See indefensus.

Defendi potest. Introduces a legal opinion ( = “it may be affirmed”).

Defensio. The activity of defendere oneself or an­other in a civil or a criminal trial. Defensio is also the procedural means by which one combats his ad­versary’s claim, an exceptio, for instance. “No one of those who deny their debt is prohibited from using another kind of defense” (D. 50.17.43).—Defensio is also the payment of another’s debt.

Wlassak, ZSS 25 (1904) 124; Frese, St Bonfante 4 (1930) 420.

Defensor. A person who defends another’s interests in a trial with or without authorization (defensor absentis) or on account of his legal relation to the plaintiff or defendant (as his tutor or curator). Public corporate bodies may have a defensor too, such as an actor municipii, syndicus, defensor colo­niae, defensor rei publicae.—D. 3.3.—See defendere, DEFENSIO.

Defensor civitatis. An official appointed by the em­peror (for the first time in a.d. 364) for the defense of the poor classes of the population (hence he is also called defensor plebis) against exactions by the great landowners and powerful citizens (potentiores). High ex-officials, even senators, were appointed, to this office, in later times by the praefectus praetorio, or elected by a group of distinguished citizens of the community. The defensores civitatis gradually be­came supervisors of all officials in the provinces and they transmitted to the governor complaints received concerning his subordinates. They also obtained jurisdiction in smaller civil affairs and even developed police functions in certain cases, not to speak of their extensive interference in administrative matters.— C. 1.55. See ACTOR UNIVERSITATIS.

Seeck, RE 4; Desjardins, DS 2; Mancini, DE 2; Romano, NDI 4; Chenon, NRHD 13 (1889) 321, 515; Baale, D. C., Diss. Amsterdam, 1904; Rees, Jour, juristic papyrology 6 (1952) 73.

Defensor plebis. See DEFENSOR civitatis.

Hoepffner, RHD 17 (1938) 225.

Defensores senatus. These were introduced about the middle of the fourth century for the defense of the members of the senate in Constantinople against vexa­tions by provincial governors and tax-collectors to which senatorial landowners were exposed in the provinces. The defensores senatus (who were elected by the senate) disappeared in the fifth century.

Seeck, RE 4.

Deferre.. To denounce a crime committed by another person to the authorities. In the later Empire, slaves who denounced certain crimes (such as counterfeit of money, desertion, abduction of woman) received liberty (libertate donari) as a reward (praemium). See denuntiare. Deferre se — to denounce oneself in a fiscal matter (e.g., to be unable to take under a will; see capax) which might result in a seizure of property by the fisc.—C. 7.13.—See delatio, dela­tores, DEFERRE FISCO.

Deferre fisco. To denounce to the fisc a case in which it would be entitled to seize private property. The imperial legislation sought repeatedly* to curb the abuse of denunciations and inflicted severe penalties not only on false informers. Apparently, denuncia­tions concerning unpaid custom duties were frequent. The jurist Marcian wrote a monograph De delatoribus (“On denouncers”) in which numerous imperial con­stitutions dealing with denunciations are listed along with a schedule of articles dutiable on import (D. 39.4.16.7, see portorium). Smuggling of those goods was severely punished.

Berger, RE 17, 1476; Solazzi, BIDR 49-50 (1947) 405.

Deferre hereditatem. An inheritance, both testamen­tary and intestate was considered delata (conferred), “when somebody may obtain it by acceptance” (D. 50.16.151). See aditio hereditatis. The heir had only to declare that he accepts it. The term deferre is also applied to bonorum possessiones, legacies and testamentary substitutions. Deferre occurs normally at the time of the death of the person whose succes­sion is inherited. It might occur later, when the heir was instituted under condition or when the heir insti­tuted refused to accept the inheritance. Deferre on intestacy took place when there was no valid testa­ment ; it could not concur with a testamentary delatio because according to an ancient rule, “no one can decease partly testatus, partly intestatus” (see nemo PRO PARTE TESTATUS). See TRANSMITTERE, TRANS­

MISSIO.

Deferre iusiurandum. See iusiurandum necessa­rium.

Deferre tutelam. To designate a guardian by testa­ment (ex testamento) or to confer guardianship ac­cording to the law. See tutela. The term is also applied to curatorship (see cura).

Deficere. With regard to judicial measures (e.g., actio deficit) indicates that in the case in question an action (exception, interdict) had to be denied. In the passive voice, defici (e.g., iure, actione) refers to a person deficient in a right or action.

Deficere. (Intrans.) See condicio deficit.

Definitio. Appears both in the sense of an explana­tion of a term and in that of a legal rule. The Roman jurists do not give definitions very often, and those given by them are not always exact or exhaustive. They rather avoided definitions which might have become a hindrance to later adaptations required by the necessities of life. “Every definition in civil law is perilous since there is little that could not be sub­verted (overthrown),” the jurist Javolenus said (D. 50.17.202). Justinian’s compilers did not share this prejudice. In later imperial constitutions definitio = a judgment in a trial.

Pringsheim, Fg Lenel, 1921, 251; Himmelschein, Sym­bolae Friburgenses Lenel, 1931, 420; Masi, AG 121 (1939) 138; M. Villey, Recherches sur la literature didactique du dr. rom., 1945, 44; Biondi, Scr Ferrini (Univ. Pavia, 1946) 240; Schulz, History of R. legal science, 1946, 66; 336.

Definitiones. The title of a work of the jurist Papinian. The excerpts from the work preserved in the Digest show that definitiones cannot be unrestrictedly iden­tified with regulae, A work of the jurist Q. Mucius Scaevola, with the Greek title Horoi (= definitiones) may have had a similar character.

Definitiva sententia. A postclassical term for the final judgment in a civil trial, to be distinguished from interlocutory, preliminary decisions (interlocu­tiones).—Syn. DEFINITIO.

Biondi, St Bonfante 4 (1930) 50.

DefixioneS. See EXECRATIONES. Kuhnert, RE 4; Lafaye, DS 5, 4; Cesano, DE 2.

Defraudator. See fraudator.

Defunctus. A deceased person. The term is pri­marily used when questions connected with his in­heritance or specific hereditary objects are involved. See MORS, MORTALITAS, STATUS DEFUNCTI.

S. Solazzi, Contro la rappresentanza del def unto, 1916; Jobbe-Duval, Les marts malfaisants, 1924; Volterra, Pro­cessi penali contro i defunti, RIDA 3 (1949) 485.

Deicere. To throw down; see actio de deiectis et EFFUSIS. D. 9.3.

Deicere de possessione. To dispossess a person from an immovable, chiefly when the action is connected with the use of physical force.—See interdictum de VI.

Leonhard, RE 4; Humbert, DS 2; Levy, Scr Ferrini 3 (Univ. Sacro Cuore, Milan, 1948) 136.

Deicere e saxo Tarpeio. To throw down from the Tarpeian rock. It was a way of executing the death penalty on slaves who committed a theft and were caught in the very act (furtum manifestum), as well as in cases of high treason and false testimony. In­troduced by the Twelve Tables, it was abolished in the third century after Christ.—See testimonium falsum.

Taubenschlag, RE 4A, 2330; E. Pais, Ricerche sulla storia e sul dir. pubbl. di Roma, 4 (1921) 17.

Deiectio gradus. Degradation from rank as a mili­tary punishment.

Deierare (deiurare). Syn. iurare. The term belongs to ancient Latin and is used once in the praetorian Edict with reference to an oath imposed on the defendant by the praetor.

Delatio. See delatores.

Delatio fisco. See deferre fisco.

Delatio hereditatis. See deferre hereditatem.

Delatio iurisiurandi. See iusiurandum necessa- RIUM.

Delatio nominis. See accusatio.

Delatores. Accusers in a criminal trial; see accusatio. Some individuals professionally assumed the role of accusers for political reasons. Malicious prosecution was punished.—C. 10.11.—See quadruplatores, NUNTIARE FISCO, DEFERRE FISCO.

Kleinfeller, RE 4; Humbert, DS 2; De Ruggiero, DE 2; Flint, Cl J 8 (1912) ; G. Bossiere, L’accusation publique et les delateurs, 1911.

Delegare ab argentario. See relegare pecuniam. Delegare iurisdictionem. See iurisdictio delegata. Delegatio. An order given by one person (is qui dele- gat) to another (is qui delegatur) to pay a debt to, or to assume an obligation towards, a third person (is cui delegatur). The term covers various trans­actions serving different purposes. The most practi­cal form occurs when a creditor orders his debtor to pay the debt to a third party of whom he himself is a debtor. “He who orders a payment is considered as if he paid himself” (D. 46.3.56). A delegatio may serve also novatory purposes (novatio) when the creditor orders his debtor to promise (not to pay) a third person something. In this case a new obli­gation arises towards the third person in the place of that of the delegans. Such changes in the person of the debtor or creditor may occur only with the consent of the persons involved. A delegatio may also serve for the performance of a donation (when the donor orders his debtor to pay his debt to an­other) or for the constitution of a dowry (when the father of the bride orders his debtor to pay the debt to his son-in-law).—D. 46.2; C. 8.41.—See expro- mittere.

Leonhard, RE 4; F. Kempner, Untersuchung über die Kausalbeziehung der Delegation, Greifswald, 1919; P. Rutsaert, Etude sur la delegation, Gand, 1929; G. Hu- brecht, Observations sur la nature de la delegation, Bor­deaux, 1931; Andreoli, RISG 7 (1932) 385; Aru, BIDR 44 (1937) 332; S. Cugia, Indagine sulla delegazione, 1947.

Delegatio. (In taxation matters.) An imperial order by which the annual amount to be levied in taxes, both in money and in kind, was established. The praefectus praetorio assessed the amount for the prov­inces and notified the governors who were responsible for the collection in their provinces.

Seeck, RE 4, 2431.

Delete. To cancel a written document (a testament, for instance) totally or partially. The pertinent dis­positions became void.—D. 28.4.

Deliberare (deliberatio) de adeunda hereditate. An heir who was not obliged to accept an inheritance {heres voluntarius) was granted a certain time in which to decide whether to accept it or not.—See TEMPUS AD DELIBERANDUM, ADITIO HEREDITATIS.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

D. 28.8; C. 6.30.

S. Solazzi, Spatium deliberandi, 1912; idem, SDH I 3 (1937) 450, 6 (1940) 337.

Delicta concurrentia. Several crimes committed by the same person either in different acts or in one. “Never do several concurrent crimes cause impunity to be granted for any of them” (D. 47.1.2 pr.). This rule concerned private crimes, as when, for instance, one kidnapped another’s slave and killed him. The culprit could be sued for private penalty by actio furti and by actio legis Aquiliae for damages. As to crimes prosecuted by the state {crimina publica) imperial legislation provided that they be tried before the same court.

Humbert, DS 1 (concursus delictorum).

Delicta militum. Military crimes or offences are either purely military or common to civilians as well. A special military crime {delictum militare) is one “which somebody commits as a soldier” (D. 49.16.2 pr.). Minor military penalties included: pecuniary fines, castigation, additional service, transfer to an­other branch of service; more severe penalties were degradation and dishonorable discharge. Several mili­tary crimes were punished by death, particularly in wartime. A soldier could neither be condemned to compulsory labor in the mines nor tortured. Specific offences against military discipline included insubor­dination, disobedience {contumacia), idleness {segni- tia), negligence {desidia). Milder treatment, and sometimes full forgiveness, were granted to recruits {tirones) unfamiliar with military discipline. A rule which defined generally the behavior of a soldier was: “A soldier who is a disturber of the peace {turbator pacis) shall be punished by death” (D. 49.16.16.1). —D. 49.16.—See DISCIPLINA.

Taubenschlag, RE 15 (s.v. Militärstrafrecht) ; Cagnat, DS 3 (s.v. militum poenae) ; J. Bouquie, Les juges mili- taires (Bruxelles, 1884) 142; J. Bray, Essai sur le droit penal militaire des Rom., 1894; A. Müller, Die StrafJustiz im röm. Heere, Neue Jahrbücher für das klass. Altertum 9 (1906) ; C. Andrieux, La repression des fautes militaires, Lyon, 1927.

Delicta privata—publica. See delictum.

Delictum. A wrongdoing prosecuted through a pri­vate action of the injured individual and punished by a pecuniary penalty paid to the plaintiff. For the distinction, crimen—delictum, see crimen. The ac­tions by which the injured person sued for a penalty were actiones POENALES, and the procedure was that of a civil action. The typical private offenses are furtum (theft), rapina (robbery), iniuria (per­sonal offence), and damnum iniuria datum (damage done to property). Delictum is the source of one group of obligations {obligationes ex delicto) which in the fundamental division of obligations is opposed to the contractual ones {obligationes ex contractu). The group of private wrongdoings was enlarged by the praetorian law through the creation of obliga­tiones, called quasi ex delicto, arising from some minor offences. “No one should improve his condition by a delictum” (D. 50.17.134.1). The distinction delicta privata—publica which corresponds to the classical distinction of delicta and crimina, is of postclassical origin.—D. 47.1.—See crimen, crimina publica.

Hitzig, RE 4; Baudry, DS 2; Brasiello, NDI 4; 8, 1206; Lauria, SDHI 4 (1938) 182; Roberti, St Calisse 1 (1940) 161.

Delictum militare. See delicta militum.

Delinquere. To commit a wrongdoing, an unlawful act, a crime {crimen), or a private offence {delictum).

Demens (noun dementia). Insane, lunatic. Legally he is treated as a furiosus and subject to a curator­ship.—See curator furiosi (called also curator de­mentis), FURIOSUS.

Audibert, Etudes I. La folie et la prodigalite, 1892, 11; Solazzi, Dementia, Mouseion 2 (1924) ; idem, AG 143 (1952) 16; Lenel, ZSS 45 (1925) 514.

Deminutio (deminuere). Refers to all acts of trans­ferring or alienating property. Some persons, such as those who are under curatorship, are forbidden to make transactions by which their property is lessened.

Deminutio capitis. See capitis deminutio.

Demolire (demolitio). To destroy. The owner of a building could destroy it when he pleased provided that such action did not violate the rights of, or cause damages to, his neighbor. Where it might, the demolition was regarded as a new structure {opus novum) and was liable to an objection by the neighbor, see operis novi nuntiatio. Also in the case of a party wall (see paries communis) the demolition by one of the owners could give rise to a controversy. Syn. destruere.

Berger, RE 18, 561; Daube, Class. Quarterly 44 (1950) 119.

Demonstrare (demonstratio). To denote, explain, describe, define (a thing, a term, a plot of land, etc.). It refers primarily to testamentary clauses by which the testator defined the persons or things mentioned in his testament.—See demonstratio falsa.

Demonstratio. As a part of the written formula in the formulary procedure this defined the subject matter of the claim with a phrase initiated with quod { = whereas, inasmuch as, e.g., the plaintiff sold a slave to the defendant). A demonstratio was required where the claim {intentio) was uncertain {incerta), since it defined more precisely the object of the con­troversy {res de qua agitur), which was of impor­tance for a future trial on the same subject and for an eventual objection that the matter had already been dealt with in court {exceptio rei iudicatae).

Arangio-Ruiz, 57 Cagliari 4 (1912).

Demonstratio falsa. The use of inappropriate words in the description of a person or a thing in a last will, or of words which in common speech mean something other than what the testator intended to express. “Falsa demonstratio non nocet” ( = “the erroneous denotation is not prejudicial,” D. 35.1.33 pr.). In numerous cases the jurists interpret a falsa demonstra­tio in favor of the validity of the testamentary dis­position.—With regard to the demonstratio in the formula (see the foregoing item) the plaintiff’s claim is not impaired if the object of the trial is not cor­rectly described in the formula; an overstatement or an understatement {plus aut minus positum) is with­out any effect on the plaintiff’s claim.—D. 35.1.

Eisele, JhJb 65 (1915) 18; Bang, JhJb 66 (1916) 336; Donatuti, St Perozzi, 1925, 311; Grosso, St Bonfante 2 (1930) 187; B. Biondi, Successions testamentaria, 1943, 521; Flume, Fschr Schulz 1 (1951) 224.

Demosthenes. A Byzantine jurist of the fifth cen­tury, probably a professor in the law school of Beirut. Kübler, RE 5, 190.

Denarius. A Roman silver coin (after 269 b.c.), origi­nally equal to ten copper asses and four sestertii nummi.—See edictum diocletiani de pretiis.

Lenormant, DS 2; Cesano, DE 2; De Ruggiero, RendLinc 17 (1908) 250; Mattingly and Robinson, Numismatic Chronicle 1938, 1; Mattingly, OCD 210 (s.w. coinage).

Denegare actionem (denegatio actionis). The re­fusal by the praetor to grant the plaintiff the action {legis actio, formula) he requested. “He who has the power to give an action may refuse it” (D. 50.17.102.1). The competent magistrate (the prae­tor primarily) did so at his own discretion, but the plaintiff could repeatedly sue the defendant before another praetor. Denegare actionem was decreed by the magistrate in various instances when already in iure it appeared beyond a doubt that the plaintiff had no cause of action, that he had no capacity to act personally in court, or when his claim was immoral or not suable under either ius civile or praetorian law and the praetor was not willing to grant a new action. Syn. non dare actionem.—D. 44.5.—See dare acti­onem.

Leist, RE 5; Lenel, ZSS 30 (1909) 333; R. Düll, Dene- gationsrecht und praetorische Jurisdiction, 1915; R. Me- waldt, Denegare actionem, 1912; H. Levy-Bruhl, La d. a. dans la procedure formulaire, 1924; Wenger, Praetor und Formel, SberMünch 1926, 33; De Martino, Giurisdizione, 1937, 70; Polacek, ZSS 63 (1943) 406; Lauria, Ser Ferrini (Univ. Pavia, 1946) 644.

Denegare bonorum possessionem. To reject a re­quest for bonorum possessio.—See agnitio bono­rum POSSESSIONIS.

Denegare cautionem. See cautum iubere.

Denegare exceptionem. A counterpart to denegare actionem: when the praetor rejected the demand of the defendant for the insertion of an exceptio into the formula.

Denegare interdictum. The refusal of an interdict by the praetor.—See interdictum.

Denegare iurisdictionem. To exclude a person from judicial protection in court (before the magistrate) and from assuming the role of a petitioner. It differs from denegare actionem where the magistrate in his capacity as a jurisdictional organ issued a decree of denegatio after the party had appeared before him and presented his case.

R. Dull, Denegationsrecht, 1915, 59; idem, ZSS 57 (1937) 77.

Denuntiare. (Syn. nuntiare.) To give notice, to inti­mate, to announce. The term applies both to official declarations addressed to private individuals and to announcements made by the latter to the competent authorities. Similarly, there was a denuntiare when a private person gave notice to another of a legally important fact or of his intention where such an act was necessary for proceeding with a legal remedy. Denuntiare was prescribed, for instance, in the case of evictio: when sued by a third person for recovery of the thing bought the buyer had to notify the seller thereof. A creditor who was going to sell the pledge had to give the debtor notice. Similarly a creditor who ceded his rights against the debtor to another (see cessio) had to act in order to compel the debtor to pay the new creditor. An heir who had a right on intestacy, when disinherited by the testator, had to denuntiare his intention to sue for the nullification of the testament.—See condicere, senatusconsul­tum PLANCIANUM, COMMISSORIA LEX.

Kipp, RE 5; Humbert, DS 2; A. Burdese, Lex commis­soria, 1949, 15.

Denuntiare bellum (denuntiatio belli). A declara­tion of war by which a state of war between two coun­tries was initiated. Indicere bellum has similar sig­nificance. The two verbs sometimes appear side by side.—See BELLUM.

Walbank, CIPhil 1949, 15.

Denuntiare testibus testimonium. To summon a witness in a criminal trial. It could be done either by a magistrate or by the accuser.

Kaser, RE 5A, 1049.

Denuntiatio domum. A specific form of denuntiatio in the case of damnum infectum, which must pre­cede the proceedings connected with cautio damni infecti or missio in possessionem. By this private act, the plaintiff informs the adversary of his inten­tion to proceed against him for damnum infectum. If the adversary is absent, the denuntiatio is made to his representative or to a tenant in the house.

Denuntiatio ex auctoritate. Summons of the adver­sary (in the late Empire) authorized by a public official.—See denuntiatio litis.

A. J. Boye, La denuntiatio, 1922, 206.

Denuntiatio litis. A summons of the defendant by the magistrate in the procedure cognitio extra ordi­nem of the classical period. In the later Empire the summons was a private act with the assistance of an official person and under official authorization {de­nuntiatio ex auctoritate).—See reparatio tempo- rum.

Kipp, RE 5; Leonhard, RE 13 (s.v. litis den.); Stein­wenter, Studien sum röm. Versäumnisvcrfahren, 1914; A. J. Boye, La d. introductive d’instance sous le Principal, 1922.

Denuntiator. The prosecutor in a criminal trial; police officers in the late Empire who had to denounce criminal offences to be prosecuted by the State. Syn. nuntiator.

Kiibler, RE 5; Humbert, DS 2; De Ruggiero, DE 2.

Denuntiatores (lictores denuntiatores). Assistants of the curatores urbis Romac. Denuntiatores were also subordinate officials who announced the public games (ludi).

Kiibler, RE 5; idem, RE 13, 515.

Deo auctore. The initial words of Justinian’s consti­tution of December 15, 530, addressed to Tribonianus, his principal collaborator in the composition of the Digest (digesta), by which the emperor’s plan con­cerning this part of his codification was announced. The enactment reveals the emperor’s ideas about the whole work and contains instructions to be followed in its compilation.

Depellere manum. To remove, throw off the claim­ant’s hand who had touched the shoulder of the de­fendant in exercising the so-called manus iniectio. —See VINDEX.

Μ. Kaser, Das altröm. lus, 1949, 195.

Depensum. (From dependere.) What the surety paid to the creditor on behalf of the principal debtor.— See ACTIO DEPENSI.

Deponere (depositio). To resign one’s office (of­ficium) or guardianship (tutelam).—For deponere — to deposit, see DEPOSITIO, DEPOSITUM.

Deportatio. Perpetual banishment of a person con­demned for a crime. It was the severest form of banishment since it included additional penalties, such as seizure of the whole property, loss of Roman citizenship, confinement to a definite place. Under the Principate it replaced the former interdietio aqua et igni. The emperor could grant the deportee full amnesty, which restored him to his former rights (postliminium). Places of deportatio were islands (in insulam) near the Italian shore or an oasis in the Libyan desert.—D. 48.22.—See relegatio, exilium.

Kleinfeiler, RE 4; Berger, OCD (s.v. relegatio)', J. Strachan-Davidson, Problems of Roman criminal law, 2 (1912) 57; Brasiello, La rcpressione penale, 1937, 294 and passim; Devilla, StSas 23 (1950) 1.

Depositio in aede. A debtor who wants to pay his debt and was unable to do so because the creditor refused to accept the payment, was absent or unable to accept it, or was uncertain (as, for instance, when the heirs of the original creditor were yet unknown), might deposit the sum due in a temple (in aede saera) or in a public office (in loco publico) designated by an official. In a similar situation was a slave, manu­mitted in a testament under the condition that he render accounts and pay the balance, when the heir was absent or unknown. It is controversial whether such a depositio effectuated an immediate liberation of the debtor. It seems that the various cases were treated differently in this regard.

R. De Ruggiero, StCagl 1 (1909) 121; G. Solazzi, Estin- sionc deli’obbligasionc l² (1935) 140, 160; Catalano, AnCat 3 (1949).

Depositum. A deposit. Depositum is both the object given a person for custody, and the contract itself by which somebody assumed the duty to watch over the depositor’s thing without any remuneration. The contract, which was exclusively in the interest of the depositor, was concluded by handing over the deposit to the depositary (obligatio re contracta). The latter was not allowed to use the thing and had to return it to the owner at his demand, with all proceeds and accessories. He was liable for dolus, but not for negligence (culpa). An actio depositi lay against him when he refused to return the deposit or other­wise violated his duties. The condemnation in actio depositi rendered the depositary infamous (see in­famia). On the other hand, he had an actio depositi contraria against the depositor for the recovery of expenses and losses incurred in connection with the deposit.—D. 16.3; C. 4.34.—See fiducia cum amico, PACTUM NE DOLUS PRAESTETUR, and the following items.

Leonhard, RE 5 ; Humbert, DS 2; Anon., NDI 4;.Tauben- schlag, GrZ 34 (1907) ; Schulz, Ztschr. fur vergl. Rechts- wiss. 25 (1911) 464, 27 (1912) 144; R. De Ruggiero, BIDR 19 (1907) 5; G. Rotondi, Scritti 2 (1922) 1; J. Paoli, Lis infitiando crescit in duplum, 1933, 170; C. Longo, Corso di dir. rom. Il deposito, 1933; Albertario, Studi 4 (.1936) 247; Sachers, Fschr Koschaker 2 (1939) 80.

Depositum irregolare. A deposit of money or other fungibles wherein the depositary had to return not the same things, but the same quantity (tantundem) of money or things. The transaction, called in litera­ture depositum irregolare, became a loan (mutuum) when the depositary had the right to use the things. A deposit of an amount of money (coins) in a sealed bag was a normal depositum. Such deposits were made with bankers who assumed the custody of the money.

G. Segre, BIDR 18 (1906) 132; C. Longo, BIDR 19 (1907) 187; Bonifacio, BIDR 49-50 (1948) 80; Schulz, Ferrini 4 (Univ. Sacro Cuore, Milan, 1949) 254; Seidl, Fschr Schulz 1 (1951) 373.

Depositum miserabile. A deposit made in a time of emergency (a shipwreck, fire, riot; see tumultus). The depositary’s liability was greater than in an ordi­nary deposit. He had to pay double damages in the case of fraud or denial. The term is not of Roman juristic language.

Deprehendere (deprehensio). To catch a criminal in the very act. A thief surprised when committing the theft = jur manifestus.—See admissum, furtum manifestum.

Derectarius (directarius). A burglar who sneaks into a dwelling furtively. He was punished more severely than an ordinary thief.

Hitzig, RE 5, 1166.

Derelictio. (From derelinquere.) The abandonment of a thing by its owner with the intention of getting rid thereof. A res derelicta is subject to occupatio, by which the occupant immediately acquires prop­erty. Derelinquere is also coupled with certain pro­cedural terms (accusationem, litem) when a person withdraws an accusation or an action.

Berger, BIDR 32 (1922, reprints published 1915) ; J. J. Meyer-Collins, D. (Diss. Erlangen, 1932) ; H. Kruger, Mnemosyna Pappulia, 1934; Arno, ATor 76/11 (1941) 261; A. Cuenod, Usucapio pro derelicto, 1943 (These, Lausanne).

Derelictus. See ALVEUS DERELICTUS, PRO DERELICTO HABERE.

Derelinquere. See derelictio. Syn. pro derelicto habere; see usucapio.

Derivatio. See flumina publica.

Derogare legi. Refers primarily to a partial annul­ment of a statute; see abrogare. Derogatorius = a derogating enactment.

Descendentes. Relatives in a descending line (chil­dren, grandchildren, great-grandchildren) through males (ex virili sexu, per mares, ex masculis, etc.) or females (ex femino sexu).—See venire ex aliquo.

Descendere ex. (E.g., lege duodecim tabularum.) Indicates the origin of a legal norm or institution.

Describere. To make a copy of a document, a private one (a testament) or one which was deposited in a public archive.—See liber libellorum.

Descriptio (describere). (In the tax administration of the later Empire.) The assessment of taxes.—C. 10.22; 36.—See res lucrativae.

Deserere. To renounce a right (a servitude, an usu­fruct) ; to withdraw an accusation (accusationem) or to discontinue a suit after the litis contestatio (litem). Syn. desistere actione, destituere.—See EREMODICIUM, TESTAMENTUM DESERTUM, VADIMO­NIUM DESERTUM, TERGIVERSATIO.

Deserere (desertio, desertor). To abandon the mili­tary service without leave. More severe cases of desertion were punished with death, as, for instance, leaving the field of combat before the enemy.—C. 12.45. See EMANSOR, TRANSFUGA, PERFUGA, FUS­

TUARIUM SUPPLICIUM.

Fiebiger, RE 5; Jullian, DS 2; R. Latrille, La repression de la desertion, Toulouse, 1919; V. Arangio-Ruiz, Sul reato di diserzione, in Rariora, 1946, 271.

Desiderare. To apply to a judicial magistrate for granting an action, an interdictum, or a restitutio in integrum.

Desiderium. A written or oral request addressed to a judicial magistrate.—See preces.

Designatio. The emperor’s proposal concerning candi­dates for a magistracy to be elected by the senate.— See COMMENDATIO, CANDIDATUS PRINCIPIS, DESTI­NATIO.

Designatus. A magistrate (consul, praetor, etc.) elected for the following year.—See renuntiatio.

De Ruggiero, DE 2.

Desinere possidere. See dolo desinere possidere.

Desistere. To withdraw an accusation in a criminal trial; to drop a civil suit. Syn. cedere actione, de­serere, destituere. See TERGIVERSATIO.

Despondere. To betroth.—See sponsalia.

Destinare. To assign, appoint a person for certain functions or tasks; to designate a thing for a specific use.

Destinatio (of magistrates). The official nomination of candidates for consulship and praetorship to be elected by the popular assemblies (designatio) in the early Principate. The assemblies had to confirm the candidacies proposed by a gathering composed of senators and equites (not by senators alone, as has been assumed hitherto). The procedure in voting and selecting the candidates is now known from a statute preserved on a bronze tablet (tabula Hebana) and recently discovered in the R. colony of Heba (Etruria).

Coli, BIDR 53-54 (1948) 369; De Visscher, Bull. Acad, de Belgique, Cl. Lettres, 5 ser., 35 (1949) 191; idem, RHD 29 (1951) 1; Nesselhauf, Historia 1 (1950) 110; Schon- bauer, RIDA 6 (1951) 201; Levi, Parola del passato 14 (1950) 158; De Visscher, ibid. 118.

Destituere. See DESERERE.

Destruere. See DEMOLIRE.

Desuetudo. A long continued non-application of a legal norm. Although desuetudo does not formally abrogate a law, the latter easily falls into oblivion and loses its force in practice. “Laws are repealed not only by the will of the legislator but also by disuse through the tacit consent of all men” (D. 1.3.32.1). In connection with the compilation of the Digest Justinian ordered that laws which had vanished by desuetudo should not be taken into consideration.— In desuetudinem abire = to pass out of use.—See ABROGARE LEGEM.

Steinwenter, RE 16, 295; Solazzi, AG 102 (1929) 3.

Detentio. (From detinere.) A simple holding of a thing without having possession (in legal sense) or ownership thereof. Detentio is not a technical term and is used in a rather looser sense. He who has detentio (detentor) cannot use possessory remedies. He holds another’s thing on the ground of an agree­ment with him (lease, deposit, commodatum), who remains legal possessor; the detentor “renders service to another’s possession.” The Roman term for de­tentio is possessio naturalis. Syn. tenere, detentare. In Justinian’s language the use of the respective words is confusing.—See constitutum possesso­rium, POSSESSIO.

J. Duquesne, Distinction de la possession et de la detention, 1898; S. Brassloff, Possessio, 1928; Radin, St Bonfantc 3 (1930) 151; Albertario, Studi 2 (1941) 161; Kaser, Deutsche Lande srefer ate zum III Intern. Kongrcss fiir Rechtsverglcichung in London, 1950.

Detentor (detentator). See detentio. The term occurs only in later imperial constitutions.

Determinare. To set limits, to settle (terms for a judicial action), to define the extent of a servitude. Detestari (detestatio). To give notice to another (denuntiatio) in the presence of witnesses (testes). Detestatio sacrorum. A solemn declaration made by a person in comitia to the effect that he is leaving his gens or family in order to pass into another. He renounced the participation in the sacred rites of his former social group. The interpretation of the term is controversial.

Ktibler, RE 3, 1331; 1A, 1682; Anon., NDI 11, 964.

Detestatus. A culprit convicted of a crime through the testimony of witnesses.

Detinere. See DETENTIO, CONSTITUTUM POSSESSORIUM.

Detrahere usumfructum. See deductio ususfruc­tus.

Detrimentum. A loss, damage. Syn. damnum.

Devocare. (In imperial constitutions.) To summon a person to render public services or assume a public charge.

Deus. Frequently interpolated in classical texts for the plural dii (=gods).—See dii.

R. De Ruggiero, StCagl 1 (1909) 140.

Devolutus. (From devolvere.) Used with regard to a succession, guardianship or ownership conferred on a person.

Devotio. An honorific title used in the later Empire in writings addressed to high officials (“devotio tua'). In another sense, the term is connected with the tax administration in the later Empire.

Devotio. A malediction addressed through a magic formula to the infernal gods requesting them to de­stroy a certain person.—See exsecratio.

Wissowa, RE 5; Bouche-Leclercq, DS 2; Cesano, DE 2. Devotissimus vir. The title of a subaltern official.

It appears first in the second half of the fourth cen­tury after Christ. It alludes to the loyalty towards the emperor.

O. Hirschfeld, Kleine Schrijten, 1913, 678.

Diarium. Daily records, an official diary, in particular in a fiscal office (statio).

Dicere. Appears frequently in such interpolated phrases as dicere ut, did potest ( — it may be said), dicet aliquis, dicendum est ( = it is to say), and the like. Such phrases do not, however, indicate that what follows is not of classical origin.

Guarneri-Citati, Indice² (1927) 29; idem, Fschr Koscha- ker, 1 (1939) 131.

Dicere. Denotes the assertions of the parties and their advocates in a trial.—See ius dicere, dicere sen­tentiam, CAUSAS DICERE.

Dicere causas. See causas dicere.

Dicere diem. (In a criminal trial.) To summon the accused to appear before the magistrate on a fixed day.

Dicere dotem. See dictio dotis.

Dicere ius. See ius dicere, iurisdictio.

Dicere legem. To insert a specific clause in a testa­ment or contract.—See dictum, leges contractus.

Dicere multam. See multa.

Dicere sententiam. (When referring to a judge.) To pronounce a judgment.

Dicere sententiam in senatu. To give a vote in the senate.

Dicio Romana (or Romani nominis). The supreme political power, sovereignty of the Roman state.

Dicis causa (gratia). For the sake of form, pro forma. The phrase refers to transactions made in a certain form in order to conceal the true purposes of the parties and to obtain legal results other than those which normally are connected with that form of transaction.—See imaginarius, simulatio, num- mus UN us.

Rabel, ZSS 27 (1906) 307; Betti, BIDR 42 (1934) 306. Dicta. An informal statement made by the seller con­cerning the existence of specific distinctive traits or the absence of certain defects in the object sold (par­ticularly in a slave). The seller is liable if his asser­tion proves to be untrue. Similar significance is attached to promissa, when the assertion is more formal and made as an explicit promise of the quali­ties specified. The two terms appear together as dicta ct promissa.—See emptio.

R. Monier, La garantie contre les vices caches, 1930, 50; Haymann, ZSS 51 (1931) 476; Kriickmann, ZSS 59 (1939) 1.

Dictate (dictatio). To dictate the contents of a writ­ten document; it primarily refers to testaments. For dictare with reference to the formula in the formu­lary procedure, see EDITIO ACTIONIS.

Dictator. An extraordinary magistrate under the Re­public, appointed in times of internal troubles (sedi­tion) or external difficulties of particular gravity. The appointment was made by one of the consuls for a maximal period of six months. If the danger passed earlier, the dictator was obliged to resign. A dictator had unlimited legislative, administrative, and judicial power, and was not hampered by the intercession of the tribunes. The dictatorship of Sulla (82 b.c.) and Caesar (49 b.c.), established by special statutes, were of a different character. The last constitutional dictatorship was at the end of the third century b.c.—See magister equitum, magister POPULI, PROVOCATIO.

Liebenam, RE 5; Humbert, DS 2; De Robertis, NDI 4; Bruno, DE 2; Sherwin-White, OCD; F. Bandel, Die rom. Diktaturen, 1910; Soltau, Hermes 49 (1914) 352; Korne- mann, KI 14 (1914) 190; Birt, Rheinisches Museum 76 (1927) 198; Momigliano, Bull. Comm. Arch. Communale di Roma, 58 (1930); Wilcken, APrAW 1940, no. 1; Gintowt, Mel De Visscher 1 (RIDA 2, 1949) 25; A. Dell’Oro, La formazione dello stato patrizio-plebeo 1950,49.

Dictator comitiorum habendorum causa. An extra­ordinary magistrate appointed for the special purpose of convoking a popular assembly for elections when the higher magistrates were absent from Rome (e.g., commanding the army).

Liebenam, RE 5, 383.

Dictator municipii. The head of the administration in the earliest municipia, assisted by one or two aediles, and later also by two quaestors.—See muni­cipium, MAGISTRATUS MUNICIPALES.

Kornemann, RE 14, 615; Liebenam, RE 5, 389; H. Rudolph, Stadt und Staat im rom. Italien, 1935, 14; E. Manni, Per la storia dei municipii, 1947, 93.

Dictio dotis. A form of constituting a dowry through a unilateral promise expressed in prescribed words (certa et sollemnia verba) “... doti tibi erit” by the woman, her paternal ancestor or her debtor. The dictio dotio was abolished by an imperial con­stitution of Theodosius II (428 a.d., C. 5.11.6) which introduced formless promises of a dowry.—See pol- LICITATIO DOTIS.

Leonhard, RE 5; Lauria, ANap 58 (1937) 221; Daube, JurR 51 (1939) 11; Solazzi, SDHI (1940) ; Hagerstrom, Der. rom. Obligationsbegriff 2 (1941) 182; Berger, Bull. Acad. Sciences Cracovie, 1909, 75; idem, Jour, of Juristic Papyrology 1 (1945) 13 (= BIDR 55-56, Suppl. Post- Bellum 1951, 99); Riccobono, BIDR 49-50 (1948) 39; F. Bonifacio, Novasione, 1950, 58; Kaser, SDHI 17 (1951) 169.

Dictum. See dicta.

Diei dictio, diem dicere. See di cere diem.

Dies. A day, a date specified in a clause of a trans­action or testamentary disposition and connecting the beginning (ex die) or the end (in diem, ad diem) of the validity thereof with a fixed date. The so-called actus legitimi could not be limited by dies.—See cedere, sine die, and the following items.

Humbert, DS 2; De Ruggiero, DE 2; Pagge, NDI 12 (j.za termine) ; R. De Ruggiero, BIDR 15 (1903) 5; Vassalli, BIDR 27 (1915) ; idem, St giuridici 1 (1939) 245; Solazzi, lura 1 (1950) 34.

Dies cedens (legati). The day on whiqh the legatee becomes entitled to the legacy. If he dies after that day, his heir acquires his right. The dies cedens gen­erally is the day of the testator’s death; if the legacy depends upon a condition, dies cedens is the day on which the condition is fulfilled. A counterpart to the dies cedens is the dies veniens (legati) = the day on which the legatee or his heir may claim payment of the legacy. It is normally the day on which the heir accepts the inheritance. Under certain circumstances both days fall together as, for instance, when the con­dition attached to the legacy is fulfilled after the ac­ceptance of the inheritance by the heir.—D. 36.2; C. 6.53.—See CEDERE.

Sommer, ZSS 34 (1913) 394.

Dies certus. A day of which one is certain that it will come (certus an) and when it will come (certus quando). Such days are calendar-days. Ant. dies incertus, an uncertain day, either uncertain as to when it will come (incertus quando, as, e.g., the day of a person’s death) or whether it will come at all (in­certus an, as, e.g., the day of a person’s marriage). A dies incertus 'an and incertus quando is equal to a condition (condicio).

C. Appleton, Revue gcnerale de droit 50 (1926) 154.

Dies coeptus pro impleto habetur. A day begun is held to be completed. The rule is applied to usucapio (D. 44.3.15 pr.).

Dies comitiales. Days on which the popular assem­blies (comitia) could be convoked.—See lex pupia. Bouche-Leclercq, DS 2, 992.

Dies comperendinus. See comperedinus dies.

Dies diffisus. See DIFFINDERE.

Dies et consul. Official dating was by indication of the calendar-day and the consuls of the year (cum die et consule, die et consule adiecto). It was used for statutes, senatusconsults, imperial enactments, and private documents. Ant. sine die et consule.—See CONSUL.

Dies fasti. Days on which court sessions could be held and magistrates and jurors could exercise their judi­cial activity. Ant. dies nefasti. See do dico addico. The origin of this distinction goes back to the earliest times of Roman history. First the pontiffs established the official calendar in which the single days were indicated as fasti or nefasti by the abbreviations F and N. Afterwards the aediles took care of the calendar. The annual schedule of dies fasti and nefasti was termed fasti.—See dies nefasti.

Schon, RE 6 (s.v. fasti) ; Bouche-Leclercq, DS 2 (s.v. fasti) ; De Ruggiero, DE 2, 1780; Stella-Maranca, NDI 5 (s.v. fasti dies) ; Paoli, RHD 30 (1952) 293.

Dies fatalis. The last day of a term within which a certain performance had to be done in order to pre­vent the loss of a right or some other detrimental consequence.

Dies festi. See FERIAE.

Dies incertus. See DIES certus.

Brunetti, D. i., 1893; Segre, RISG 18 (1895).

Dies iuridici. A later term for court-days.

Dies iusti. A thirty-day period granted by the Twelve Tables to debtors who had acknowledged their debt in court (aes confessum) or were condemned by judgment, to gather the sum to be paid. If the thirty days elapsed and the debt was not paid, the debtor was brought to the praetor who adjudged him to the creditor. The latter was allowed to fetter the debtor and keep him in prison for 60 days.—See addictus, TEMPUS IUDICATI.

Dies mortis. The day of death. In classical law, stipulations to pay a sum after the debtor’s or credi­tor’s death (post mortem) were void because an obligation could not arise for the heir, neither as creditor nor as debtor. Similar treatment was ex­tended to promises connected with the day preceding the death of the creditor or debtor (pridie quam mo- riar, or pridie quam morieris in the stipulatory question). Justinian declared such stipulations valid. —See MANDATUM POST MORTEM, OBLIGATIO POST MORTEM, STIPULATIO POST MORTEM.

F. Vassalli, Di clausole relative al dies mortis net legato e nella stipulatio, 1910; Solazzi, lura 1 (1950) 49.

Dies nefasti. Days on which the praetor was not al­lowed to pronounce one of the three solemn words do, dico, addico. Ant. dies fasti. Therefore, legis actiones and jurisdiction were forbidden on those days. Likewise, popular assemblies did not meet on those holidays which were devoted to religious cere­monies and public festivals.—See dies fasti (Bibl.), DO DICO ADDICO.

Wissowa, RE 6, 2015.

Dies legitimus. See legitimus.

Dies praesens. See praesenti die.

Dies utiles. Days on which certain acts could be per­formed in court (before the magistrates). When a certain number of days was fixed for declarations or requests to be made before a magistrate, as, for in­stance, one hundred days for the demand of bonorum possess™, only dies utiles were reckoned.—See an­nus utilis.

Dies veniens (legati). See dies cedens.

Diffarreatio. The formal dissolution of a marriage concluded by confarreatio to free the woman from the manus tie.—See divortium.

De Ruggiero, DE 2, 397; Leonhard, RE 5.

Differentiae. Distinctions. The title of a work by the jurist Modestinus. Some of the texts preserved re­veal a tendency to stress the differences existing among similar legal institutions or terms.

Diffindere. To defer a trial to another day because of the sickness of the judge or of one of the parties (dies diffisus). The measure was already known in the Twelve Tables.

Digerere. See DIGESTA.

Digesta. (From digerere.} In juristic literature. Some jurists (Alfenus Varus, Celsus, Julian, Scae­vola, Marcellus) wrote comprehensive works under this title. Neither the system nor the kind of presen­tation is uniform, but the general feature is that both ius civile and praetorian law are taken into consid­eration. Often excerpts from earlier works of the same author (Responsa, Quaestiones) are collected and put into a somewhat systematic order (digerere).

Mommsen, Jurist. Schriften 2, 90; Jors, RE 5, 485.

Digesta lustiniani. The main part of Justinian’s legis­lative work. Announced on December 15, 530 by the constitution “Deo Auctore,” it was published on December 16, 533 by the constitutions “Tanta” (in Latin) and “Dedoken” (in Greek) and it entered into force two weeks later. The grandiose work is a compilation of excerpts from the juristic literature of the classical epoch. More than 9,000 texts are distributed into fifty books, each of which—except for books 30-32 on legacies and fideicommissa—are divided into titles of various extent containing the texts pertinent to the topic indicated in the super-

[TRANS. AMER. PHIL. SOC. scription (rubrica) of the title. Each text is pre­ceded by an inscriptio denoting the classical author and title of the work from which it was taken. By a special instruction of the emperor, the compilers were authorized to omit all superfluous, imperfect, and obsolete material and to make alterations in the excerpted fragments taking into consideration the changes introduced by later imperial legislative activ­ity and Justinian’s own enactments. The commission composed of law professors in Constantinople and Beirut, high officials, and prominent practitioners, under the chairmanship of tribonianus, made use of that authorization in a very large measure, not only in order to introduce into the collected texts later legislative changes but also to insert some reforms of the older law where the classical doctrines or ideas seemed to them less appropriate for their time. Jus­tinian’s statement that ��many things and of highest importance (multa et maxima) have been changed” (Tanta, 10) corresponds exactly to the truth. In­numerable alterations (suppressions, additions, substi­tutions), sometimes wholly opposite to what had been said by a classical jurist, were accomplished with the purpose of' modernizing the law as it stood in texts written three to five centuries earlier. Those altera­tions are called interpolations (emblemata Triboni­ani). The copies of the classical works, which the compilers had at their disposal, were provided with marginal or interlinear remarks (glosses), inserted by the readers in postclassical times; thus the glosses entered into.the Digest, willingly accepted by the compilers for whom they facilitated the compilatory task in a large measure. The research into interpo­lations and postclassical alterations in the Digest is one of the most important features of modern Roman­istic literature, the efforts of which are devoted to the segregation in each text of what was said therein 'originally by the jurist from what had been added or changed afterwards. In order to avoid contro­versial discussions and confusing commentaries to this part of his codification, Justinian allowed only explanatory writings, summaries, and additional notes to the single title to be made in the future and for­bade commentaries of a polemical, critical and contro­versial character. The other official title of the Digest was Pandectae.—See index florentinus, tanta, DEDOKEN.

Editions see General Bibliography, Ch. XII.—Jors, RE 5; Riccobono, NDI 4; Baudry, DS 4 (s.v. Pandectae); Berger, OCD; F. Hoffmann, Die Compilation der Digesten Justinians, 1900; Longo, BIDR 19 (1907) 132; De Fran- cisci, BIDR 22, 23, 27 (1910, 1911,.1914) ; H. Peters, Die ostrom. Digestenk ommentare und die Ent st ehung der Di­gesten, BerS'dchGW 65 (1913) ; H. Kruger, Die Herstel­lung der Digesten Justinians und der Gang der Excerption, 1932; De Francisci, Premesse storiche alia critica del Digesto, ConfMil 1931, 1; Collinet, L’originalite du Di­geste, ibid. 39; De Visscher, Le Digeste, ibid. 53 (-Nou- velles fctudes, 1949, 331) ; Arangio-Ruiz, Precedenti scolas­tici del Digesto, ibid. 285; Rotondi, Scr giuridici 1 (1922)

VOL. 43, PT. 2, 1953]

87; Berger, Justinian’s ban upon the commentaries to the Digest, Bull. Polish Institiitc of Arts and Sciences in America 3 (1945) 656 (— BIDR 55-56, Suppl. Post- Bellum, 1951, offpr. 1948, 124).

Digestum novum, vetus. Some manuscripts of the Digest contain only one-third of the work. The first third, from Book 1 through Book 24, is called Diges­tum vetus, the last third (Books 39-50) Digestum novum, and the middle portion Infortiatum. This division of the Digest into three parts is only acci­dental.

Kantorowicz, ZSS 31 (1919) 40; De Francisci, BIDR 33 (1923) 162.

Dignitas. The respect and esteem which the magis­trates and senators enjoyed among the people. Dig­nitas populi Romani = the greatness and power of the Roman people. In the later Empire, dignitas refers to the highest administrative offices. The hier­archy of the dignitates = ordo dignitatum.—C. 12.1; 8; 1.52.—See ordinarius.

H. Wegehaupt, Die Bedeutung von d. in den Schriften der republikanischen Zeit, Diss. Breslau, 1932.

Dignitas patricia. See patriciatus.

Dii. Gods. They could not be instituted as heirs in a testament. Exceptions, however, were admitted by senatusconsults and imperial constitutions in favor of some deities (in Rome of Jovis Tarpeius, and in the provinces of only one provincial deity). Legacies were permitted and subject to a deduction according to the Lex Falcidia, as all other legacies. The temple dedicated to�the cult of the deity honored by the gift, was the beneficiary. For the pertinent legislation of the Christian emperors, see ecclesia.

Scialoja, 57 giuridici 2 (1934) 241; B. Biondi, Successione testamentaria, 1943, 128.

Diiudicare (diiudicatio). To decide a judicial con­troversy by judgment.

Dilatio. The. adjournment of a trial. At the request of either party, only one dilatio might be granted in pecuniary matters. In criminal trials the accuser could request for an adjournment twice, the accused three times.—D. 2.12; C. 3.11.—See diffindere, and the following item.

Dilatio instrumentorum (personarum) gratia..An adjournment granted for the presentation of docu­mentary evidence (only to the defendant since the plaintiff had to prepare the necessary documents be­fore suing) or in order to give absent persons in­volved in the trial the opportunity to appeal in court. The extension of the term granted depended upon the remoteness of the place from which the persons had to arrive or the documents to be brought.

Bortolucci, St Riccobono 2 (1936) 441.

Dilatorius. See exceptiones dilatoriae.

Dilectum edicere. To order a mobilization of the army.

Liebenam, RE 5; Cagnat, DS 2; De Ruggiero, DE 2.

Diligens pater familias. A careful head of a family. The way he manages his affairs is presented as a

437 model of caution and prudence.—See bonus pater FAMILIAS.

Sachers, RE 18, 4, 2154; Buckland, St Bonfante 2 (1930) 87.

Diligentia. Cautious conduct, carefulness. Lack of diligentia might cause liability of the person who was contractually obligated to a careful, cautious conduct, where another’s interests were involved. The term is linked with others concerning contractual liability, and appears at times in texts which are not free of suspicion as to their classical origin. Complete elimi­nation of the term from the classical juristic thinking is out of the question. Ant. neglegentia.—See culpa, custodia.

Kunkel, ZSS 45 (1925) 266; Kriickmann, ZSS 64 (1944) 5; Pfluger, ZSS 65 (1947) 121.

Diligentia quam suis. Carefulness (diligence) which a man applies in his own affairs. It is referred to when the duties of a guardian in the management of the ward’s property or those of a partner in a societas are defined.—See culpa in concreto.

Ehrhardt, Mnem Pappulia, 1934, 101.

Dilucida intervalla. See intervalla. Dimissorius. See litterae dimissoriae.

Dimittere. In obligatory relations dimittere creditorem = to satisfy the creditor; dimittere debitorem = to release the debtor.

Dimittere uxorem. To dismiss, to send away one’s wife (e.g., in the case of adultery). Such an act is sufficient for a divorce if the husband gives up his affectio maritalis and repudiates the wife with the intention of dissolving the marriage.

Dioecesis. (As an administrative unit.) The union of several provinces. Through Diocletian’s reform the whole Roman Empire was divided into twelve dioece­ses. Later the number was increased to fifteen. The governor of a dioecesis, to whom the governors of the pertinent provinces were subordinated, was the vicarius. Three or four dioeceses were united into a praefectura under a praefectus praetorio. There were two praefecturae in the Western Empire (Italia, Gallia) and two in the Eastern Empire (Oriens, Illyricum). This administrative division of the Em­pire was reflected in the appeal proceedings in judicial matters. The provincial governors were judges in the first instance (iudices ordinarii, in Justinian’s language called simply iudices). The second instance was the vicarius, from whose decisions an appeal to the emperor was admissible. The judgments of the praefectus praetorio as the head of a praefectura, rarely were submitted to the emperor since his judicial functions were held to be exercised in the place of the emperor (vice sacra).—See vicarius, vicarius in urbe, vicarius praefecti praetorio.

Kornemann, RE 5, 727; Jullian, DS 2.

Dioecesis urbica. The territory of Rome as a judicial district in which justice was administered by officials residing in Rome. Italy was divided into dictricts

(regiones) submitted to the judicial competence of iuridici. See REGIONES ITALIAE.

Diploma. Written permission to use the imperial post, delivered by a special official of the imperial chancery (a diplomatibus).

Humbert, DS 1, 1648.

Diploma honestae missionis. See auxilia, missio, and the following item.

Diploma militare. A certificate in the form of a dip­tych issued to veteran soldiers after the completion of their military service (normally twenty, in the auxi­lia twenty-five years). The diploma conferred Ro­man citizenship on a peregrine soldier, his wife and children or granted him the ius conubii (= the right to conclude a legal Roman marriage). If the veteran had lived in a marital union with a woman, the diploma convalidated it into a legal marriage. Some tax immunities might also be included in a diploma. —See DIPTYCHUM.

Wiinsch, RE 5; Lammert, RE 15, 1666; Wenger, RE 2A, 2416; Thedenat, â€?DS 2; Vaglieri, DE 2, 198; H. M. D. Parker, The R. legions, 1928, 102, 239; Nesselhauf, Corpus Inscr. Latinarum 16 (1936); Riccobono, FIR I² (1941) 223 (Bibl.).

Diptychum. A written document composed of two rectangular tablets of bronze or wood, joined together by a string passed through holes in the edges. Often three tablets were used bound in the same way to­gether like a booklet (triptychum). The text of the document was written twice, once on the inner pages (scriptura interior), tied around with the string and sealed by the witnesses, and a second time on the outside pages (scriptura exterior) which could be read without opening the inner part.—See tabula, TABULAE CERATAE.

Wenger, RE 2A, 2417; Wiinsch, RE 5, 1163. Directarius. See derectarius.

Directus. Straight, immediate. Used in various con­nections to denote that an act produces directly the results normally attached thereto, contrary to analo­gous legal institutions which are only indirectly effec­tive. Thus, for instance, libertas directa is liberty given in a testament through a direct manumissory disposition of the testator and is opposed to libertas fideicommissaria where the slave becomes free through a manumission by the heir; the direct institution of an heir (institutio directa) is opposed to a substi­tutio. For the meaning of directus in connection with certain types of actions, see actiones directae. Diribitio. The scrutiny of votes in popular assemblies by special scrutinizes' (diribitores) appointed for each centuria or tribus.

G. Rotondi, Leges publicae populi Romani, 1912, 142.

Diribitores. See DIRIBITIO.

Liebenam, RE 5; Humbert, DS 1, 1386.

Dirimere. To settle a controversy (dirimere contro­versiam) by the decision of a judge or an arbitrator; to dissolve (a marriage, a partnership).

Discedere. To recede, to withdraw as a party from an agreement, or from a trial; to give up possession (a possessione) ; to dissolve a marriage by divorce.

Disceptatio. (From disceptare.) A legal dispute, a trial. It may denote both the debate on the contro­versial matter before court and the decision itself. Disceptatio domestica — a friendly dispute within the domestic community.

Düll, ZSS 63 (1943) 67.

Disceptator. He who examines and settles a contro­versy, an arbitrator or judge.

Discessio... (From discedere.) Voting (in the senate) by division. The senator who voted for the motion took one place, those who opposed it, another (sen­tentiam pedibus jerre, Gellius, Noct. Att. 3.18.2).— See SENATORES PEDARII, SENATUSCONSULTA.

O’Brien-Moore, RE Suppl. 6, 711; 716.

Discidium. A divorce.

Discindere. (In later imperial constitutions). To dis­miss from public service.

Disciplina. Rules affecting orderly conduct, primarily in military service (disciplina militaris). Disorderly conduct of soldiers, disobedience, insubordination, and the like, were treated as lesser military delicts. See DELICTA MILITUM, CASTIGATIO, REGENS EXERCITUM. —Disciplina publica = public order.—See seditiosi.

J. Sulzer, Beiträge zur inneren Geschichte des röm. Heeres, Basel, 1923; O. Mauch, Der lateinische Begriff d., Diss. Basel, 1941; S. v. Bolla, Aus röm. und bürgerlichem Er­brecht, 1950, 6; Solazzi, SDHI 17 (1951) 249.

Discussor. An official in the later Empire who verified the accounts of expenditures for public’buildings and the records connected with tax administration.—C. 10.30.—Discussor census, see inspector.

Seeck, RE 5.

Discutere matrimonium. To dissolve a marriage (or a betrothal = discutere sponsalia).

Disiunctim. See coniunctim. Different interpretative rules were applied to legacies left joint disiunctim. See the following item.

Disiunctivo modo. Alternatively (aut... aut, sive... sive = either... or). Conditions imposed dis- iunctivo modo = conditiones disiunctivae. Generally the person on whom they were imposed had the choice between them.

Dispendium. Expense, loss. Syn. impensae, impen­dium ; ant. compendium, lucrum.

Dispensatio aerarii. Supervision over the administra­tion of the treasury (aerarium populi romani). It belonged to the competence of the senate.

Dispensator. A financial manager of a wealthy land­owner. The emperor also had dispensatores = pay­masters, cashiers of the imperial purse.

Dispensator pauperum. See oeconomus ecclesiae. Displicere. See PACTUM DISPLICENTIAE.

Dispositio. (In later imperial constitutions.) An ar­rangement made by a testator in his last will or the testament as a whole (ultima dispositio).

Dispositiones. Private (not governmental) affairs and correspondence of the emperor (in the late Empire). —See COMES DISPOSITIONUM.

Disputatio fori. Mentioned only once by Pomponius with reference to the times following the promulga­tion of the Twelve Tables (D. 1.2.2.5). The term seems to indicate discussions of legal problems by the jurists in a public place (in court?).

V. Liibtow, ZSS 66 (1948) 467.

Disputationes. Juristic writings containing cases dis­cussed by the jurists in their activity as teachers. The discussions might have started from real cases in which the jurists were asked for opinion (respon­sum). See TRYPHONINUS.

Dissensus. (From dissentire.) See consensus con­trarius.

Hupka, ZSS 52 (1932) 1.

Dissimulatio. In the case of iniuria (insult), disre­garding (neglecting) an offense by the person in­sulted who leaves the matter without giving any sign of outraged feeling. “The insult is abolished by dis­simulatio” (dissimulatione aboletur, D. 47.10.17.1). —See iniuria.

Dissolvere (dissolutio). To dissolve (a marriage by divorce, a partnership), to cancel (a contract, an obligatory tie).

Distractio bonorum. An institution similar to bono­rum venditio (sale of the property of an insolvent debtor). The sale was by individual items (not in a lump), probably without any foregoing missio in bona. Distractio bonorum did not involve infamy. Originally applied as an exception in the case of the insolvency of a senator (see clara persona), a ward or a lunatic, the distractio bonorum became a general institution under Justinian.

Solazzi, Concorso dei creditori 2 (1938) 199; 3 (1940) 1; Cosentini, SDH I 11 (1945) 1; Lepri, Scr Ferrini 2 (Univ. Sacro Cuore, Milan, 1947) 99.

Distractio pignoris. See ius distrahendi.—D. 20.5; C. 8.27; 28.

Distrahere. To sell (a pledge, see ius distrahendi, distractio bonorum), to dissolve (a contract, a mar­riage). Syn. dissolvere, ant. contrahere.

Diurnus. See AQUA DIURNA, FUR DIURNUS, OPERAE DIURNAE.

Divalis. Refers to enactments and utterances made by the emperor.

Ennslin, SbMiinch 1943, 6, 72.

Divertere. To divorce (“to go in different ways”).— See DIVORTIUM.

Dividere. See divisio.

Divina domus. See domus augusta.

Divinatio. As the art of predicting and interpreting certain natural phenomena (auspicia, auguria) this is a part of the activity of augures and their occult sci­ence.------ AUGURES, HARUSPICES.

Hopfner, RE 14, 1258 (s.v. mantike) ; Bouche-Leclercq, DS 2; Pease, OCD; Cramer, Sent 10 (1952) 44.

Divinatio. (In a criminal trial.) A preliminary stage in which an accuser is chosen among several persons who brought the same accusation against a person. Plurality of accusers in the same trial was not ad­missible.

Hitzig, RE 5; Humbert, DS 2; Berger, OCD.

Divinitas. Divinity; a title applied to the emperor.— See DIVALIS, DIVUS, DIVINUS.

Herzog-Hauser, RE Suppl. 4, 806 {s.v. Kaiserkult) ; L. R. Taylor, The divinity of the R. emperor, Middletown, 1931; Ensslin, Gottkaiser, SbMiinch 1943, Heft 6, passim.

Divinus. Pertaining to gods; in the later Empire, connected with the person of the emperor or issued by him (enactments, privileges, gracious acts). Syn. divalis.—See ius divinum, res divini iuris, domus DIVINA.

Divisio. Division of common property. It can be achieved either by mutual agreement or by an action: among co-heirs by the actio familiae herciscun- dae, among co-owners by the actio communi divi­dundo. An analogous action, although not for divid­ing common property, but for the regulation of controversial land boundaries, was the actio finium regundorum. All these actions have some proce­dural peculiarities, among them a special clause in the formula, adiudicatio.—See communio.

Divisio inter liberos. (Made by the father.) See tes­tamentum PARENTIS INTER LIBEROS.

Divortium. A divorce. It was achieved without for­malities, simply by a definitive cessation of the com­mon life of the consorts, initiated by common agree­ment or by one of them, thereby proving that there was no longer any affectio maritalis between the spouses. Therefore, a temporary abandonment of the common dwelling by the wife in a state of excitement (per calorem) was not considered a divortium. If the conclusion of a marriage was ac­companied by a convent io in manum, the dissolution of such agreement had to be accomplished by a con­trary act (diffarreatio in the case of confarreatio, remancipatio or emancipatio in the case of cocmptio). Usually, however, a unilateral declaration by the divorcing spouse (repudium) followed the separation, either by writing, per epistulam—the letter had to be signed by seven witnesses—or orally, directly or in­directly by a messenger (per nuntium). Legislation of the Christian emperors often dealt with divortium; they introduced some restrictions and imposed pe­cuniary sanctions on the party who repudiated his consort without any just ground. The principle of the dissolubility of marriages, however, always re­mained in force. In Justinian’s law written notifica­tion of a divorce (libellus divortii, repudii) became obligatory.—D. 24.2; C. 5.24.—See filia familias. Leonhard, RE 5; Kunkel, RE 14, 2275; Baudry, DS 2; Anon., NDI 5; E. Levy, Her gang der rbm. Ehcschcidung, 1925; Solazzi, BIDR 34 (1925) 1, 295; Corbett, LQR 45 (1929) ; Volterra, St Ratti, 1934, 394; idem, St Riccobono 3 (1936) 201; Basanoff, ibid. 177; L. Caes, La dissolution volontaire du manage sine manu, Louvain, 1935; G. Longo, BIDR 40 (1932) 202; Jonkers, SDH I 5 (1939) 123; Rasi, Consensus facit nuptias, 1946, 125; Volterra, RIDA 1 (1948) 224; Solazzi, Il divorzio della liberta, BIDR 51-52 (1948) 327; P. Noailles, Les tabous du manage, in Fas et ius, 1948, 1; Wolff, ZSS f>7 (1950) 261.

Divortium bona gratia. (In Justinian law.) A di­vorce caused by reasons which cannot be charged to either of the consorts, as when the marriage remained childless for three years because of a physical de­ficiency of one of the consorts, or the absence of the husband as a prisoner of war for five years, mental disease, etc.

Tabera, ACII 1 (1935) 195; Solazzi, RendLomb 71 (1938) 511; Wolff, ZSS 67 (1950) 270.

Divortium ex iusta causa. A divorce caused by the bad behavior of one of the consorts (adultery or im­moral conduct of the wife, the husband’s living with a concubine or his false accusation of the wife for adultery) in Justinian’s law. The culpable consort was subject to pecuniary sanctions (loss of the dowry or nuptial donations, and, under certain circum­stances, even loss of a quarter of property). Ant. divortium sine causa, when there was no reasonable ground for the divorce. It was valid, but the party who divorced was liable to money penalties.

Divus (diva). A title granted an emperor or empress after the death if a consecratio had taken place by which the deceased entered among the deities of the State. See DIVINITAS, NOSTER.

Herzog-Hauser, RE Suppl. 4, 806 (s.v. Kaiserkult) ; De Ruggiero, DE 4, 44; Martroye, Bull, de la Societc des Antiquaires de France, 1928, 297; L. R. Taylor, The di­vinity of the R. emperor, 1931; A. d’Ors, AHDE 14 (1942/3) 33; Ensslin, Gottkaiser, SbMunch 1943, Heft 6.

Do, dico, addico. The three solemn words (tria sol­lemnia verba) pronounced by the praetor in the exer­cise of his Jurisdictional activity in the in-iure-stage of the process. Dare referred to his granting an action (formula, indicium), an exception, an inter­dict, possession, or to his appointment of a guardian, a judge, and the like. Dicere was applied to some of his commands, such as die ere diem, die ere multam; addicere is linked with the approval of what happened in iure (e.g., in iure cessio), see also addicere.—See DIES FASTI.

Wlassak, ZSS 25 (1903) 85; Dull, ZSS 57 (1937) 76; F. De Martino, Giurisdizione, 1937, 59; Pugliese, Lezioni sul processo civile r., 1947, 45; P. Noailles, Du droit sacre au dr. civil, 1950, 284.

Documentum. A document. The term is unknown in classical juristic language, but is used in post- classical imperial constitutions.—See instrumentum. Dodrans. Three quarters of an as (nine unciae), hence three quarters of an inheritance.—See as.

Dolo desinere possidere. To give up fraudulently possession of a thing with the purpose to be unable to restore it to the true owner or legal possessor. He who does so “is treated as if he still possessed the thing” (D. 50.17.137; 157.1).—See rei vindi­catio, exhibere, possessor fictus.

Lend, GrZ 37 (1910) 534; Pissard, NRH 35 (1910); Levy, ZSS 42 (1921) 505; Kaser, ZSS 51 (1931) 109.

Dolo malo. (Syn. dolose.) Intentionally, with evil intention (malice). The term receives often greater emphasis by the addition of sciens (knowingly) to indicate that the wrongdoer committed the offence with full knowledge of the unlawfulness of his act. “No one is considered to act fraudulently (dolo) who avails himself of his right” (D. 50.17.55), or “who fulfills the order of a judge” (iussum iudicis, D. ibid. 167.1).—See dolus.

Dolose. See DOLO MALO, DOLUS#

Dolus. Defined by Labeo (D. 4.3.1.2) as follows: “any cunning, deceit, or contrivance used to defraud, deceive or cheat another.” Syn. dolus malus. Ant. on the one hand dolus bonus (simple shrewdness), on the other hand bona fides. In transactions governed by bona fides (negotia bonae fidei) and protected by actions (indicia) bonae fidei the judge’s duty was to take into consideration fraudulent conduct of the parties and to reject claims or defenses based on dolus. In actions governed by ius strictum (such as arising from stipulatio) the defendant must oppose exceptio doli if he wanted to object that the plaintiff’s claim was founded on dolus. A person deceived dolo (malo) by another, had the actio doli against him, introduced by praetorian law, when another special action was not available. In transactions under strict law liability for dolus could be assumed by a special clausula doli, included in, or attached to the principal stipulatio. Through this clause the promisor guar­anteed that there was not nor will be any fraud (dolum malum abesse afuturumque esse). An agree­ment excluding liability for dolus (pactum ne dolus praestetur) was void.—In criminal offenses dolus means the intention of the wrongdoer to commit the crime, which presupposes his knowledge of the unlaw­fulness of the act. Republican statutes dealing with criminal offences generally expressly stress the sci­entia of the culprit (sciens dolo malo). Similar ex­pressions are: consulto, consilio, voluntate, sciens prudensque.—D. 4.3; C. 2.20.—See actio doli, CULPA, CAPAX DOLI, EXCEPTIO DOLI, CONSILIUM, DOLO MALO, IN INTEGRUM RESTITUTIO, STIPULATIO DE DOLO.

Humbert, DS 2; Litten, Fg Güterbock, 1910; Schulz, ZSS 33 (1912) ; Charvet, La restitutio in integrum des majeurs, 1920, 41; G. Rotondi, Scr giur. 2 (1922) 371; K. Heidrich, Das Verschulden beim Vertragsabschluss, 1924; J. Du­quesne In integrum restitutio ob dolum, 1929; G. Maier, Praetorische Bereicherungsklagen, 1932, 17; 35; G. Longo, Contributi alia dottrina del dolo, 1937; F. Palumbo, L’azione di dolo, 1935; Coing, Sem 8 (1950) 12; idem, Fschr Schulz 1 (1951) 97.

Dolus bonus. Earlier jurists called shrewdness dolus bonus, “especially when anything was skillfully con­trived against an enemy or a robber” (D. 4.3.1.3). Dolus bonus does not produce any legal consequences. Ant. dolus malus.—See dolus.

Dolus malus. Juristically syn. with dolus. Malus is in this connection a strengthening attribute but does not denote a higher degree of dolus to be treated otherwise than dolus.—See dolo malo, dolus, ma­chinatio.

Domestici. The court garrison in the imperial palace. C. 12.17. See DECEMPRIMI, COMITES DOMESTICO­RUM, PROTECTORES.

Seeck, RE 5; Braschi, DE 2; Babut, Rev. Historique 114 (1913) 226.

Domestici iudices. The staff in the office of provin­cial governors.—C. 1.51.

Domesticum furtum. See furtum domesticum.

Domesticum imperium. See imperium domesticum. Domesticum iudicium. See iudicium domesticum. Domesticum testimonium. See testimonium do­mesticum.

Domi. The area within the city of Rome and a radius of a mile from its walls. Ant. militiae — the territory beyond that area. The terms refer to the imperium of the magistrates and to their territorial criminal jurisdiction. See LEX CORNELIA DE IMPERIO.

Domicilium. The domicile of a person, the place where he permanently (not temporarily) lives. Do­micilium is sometimes identified with domus “where a man has his abode, his documents {tabulae} and the establishment of his affairs {business}” (D. 50.16.203). Other criteria of domicilium are; where one “is always acting in the municipality, when he buys, sells and concludes contracts there, when he makes use of its forum, baths, theaters and its other institutions, when he celebrates there the holidays” (D. 50.1.27.1). It was controversial whether a man might have two domiciles. Some jurists hold that he had no domicile at all; a contrary opinion pre­vailed in Justinian’s law. Senators had their domi­cilium both in Rome and in their community of origin. Several rules concerning domicilium are referred to Hadrian. Even a longer sojourn in a city, for the purpose of studies is not considered a domicilium unless it lasted more than five years. Domicilium collocare = to establish one’s domicile; syn. larem collocare, constituere (literally = to set a shrine for the tutelary deity of the household). A person who had a domicilium in a community was an incola thereof. Domicilium was important in civil proce­dure since, as a matter of rule, a debtor might be sued only where he had his domicilium {forum domi­cilii}. The domicile also was decisive for the munici­pal charges {munera} since a person was obliged to perform them only where he was resident. On the other hand, only an incola could obtain an honorary post in his community.—D. 50.1; C. 10.40.—See INCOLA, ORIGO, TRANSFERRE DOMICILIUM.

Leonhard, RE 5; Berger, RE 9 (s.v. incola) ; Baudry, DS 2; Lechat, DS 3 (s.v. incola) ; V. Tedeschi, RISG 7 (1932) 213; idem, Del domicilio, 1936; Visconti, Scr Ferrini 1 (Univ. Catt., Milan, 1947) 429.

Dominicus. Refers to the master’s {dominus} power over his slave {dominica potestas}. Dominicus = connected with the private property of the emperor; See RES DOMINICA, DOMUS DIVINA.

Dominium. Ownership. Unknown in Cicero (al­though dominus is not rare in his works) the term appears for the first time at the end of the Republic. It denotes full legal power over a corporeal thing, the right of the owner to use it, to take proceeds therefrom, and to dispose of it freely. The owner’s plena potestas in re { — full power over a thing) is manifested by his faculty to do with it what he pleases and to exclude any one from the use thereof unless the latter has acquired a specific right on it (a servitude, an usufruct) which he might obtain only with the own­er’s consent. Limits to private ownership may be im­posed on account of public order or in the interest of the community {utilitas publica} which under certain circumstances may lead to an expropriation (taking away one’s property through a compulsory purchase, emptio ab invito, the owner being compensated for the loss of his property). Under the later Empire expropriation was practiced in various instances. Re­strictions of the unlimited utilization of immovable property were admitted when a neighbor was hindered in the free use of his property. Special restrictions concerning the owner’s right to transfer his property by sale or in another way {alienatio} might be im­posed on him by contract or by a testamentary dis­position ; in exceptional situations they were ordered by law, as for instance, by the lex iulia de fundo dotali, which forbade the husband to sell the land pertaining to his wife’s dowry, or the prohibition to alienate a thing which is the object of a pending suit (see res litigiosa). Finally, the owner’s rights are limited when he has a thing in common ownership with another (see communio).—Syn. proprietas, ap­parently a later creation. A fundamental feature of the Roman doctrine of ownership is the distinction be­tween the legal power over a thing and the factual holding of a thing {possessio} which do not always meet together in the same person. Hence, conflicting situations might arise between the owner {dominus, proprietarius} and the possessor.—D. 41.1.—See do­minium DUPLEX, MANCIPIUM, IN BONIS HABERE, possessio. For the acquisition of ownership see MANCIPATIO, IN IURE CESSIO, TRADITIO, USUCAPIO, LONGI TEMPORIS PRAESCRIPTIO, SPECIFICATI©, COM- mixtio, confusio, occupatio, thesaurus. For the protection of dominium, see rei vindicatio, actio PUBLICIANA, OPERIS NOVI NUNTIATIO, CAUTIO DAMNI infecti, impetrati© DOMiNii, hasta.—See also the following items.

Leonhard, RE 5; Baudry, DS 2; Anon., NDI 5; Berger, OCD\ Di Marzo, NDI 10 (s.v. proprietà) ; C. H. Monro, De adquirendo rcrum dominio, D. 41.1, Cambridge, 1900; Bonfante, Scritti 2 (1918) ; V. Scialoja, Teoria della pro­prietà, 1-2 (Lezioni, 1928, 1931) ; De Francisci, Translatio dominii, 1921 ; H. H. Pflüger, Erwerb des Eigentums, 1937 ; G. Cornil, Du mancipium au dominium, Fschr Koschakcr 1 (1939); Kaser, ibid. 445; Koschaker, ZSS 58 (1938) 255; J. G. A. Wilms, De wording van hot Romcinsche dominium, Gent, 1939/40; Biscardi, StSen 56 (1942) 275; Wieacker, Entwicklungsstufen des röm. Eigentums, in Das neue Bild der Antike 2 (1942) 156; Brasiello, Studi Ferrara 1 (1943) ; Μ. Kaser, Eigentum und Besitz im älteren röm. R., 1943; E. Weiss, Zwei Beiträge sur Lehre vom geteilten Eigentum, Pragmatciai tes Akademias Athe- non 14, fase. 3, 1948; Monier, St Solassi, 1948, 357; B. Biondi, Le servitù prediali, 1946, 58; F. de Zulueta, Digest 41, 1 and 2 (translation and commentary) 2nd ed. 1950;

E. Levy, IFest Roman Fulgar Laio, 1951 (passim) ; P. Voci, Modi di acquisto di proprietà (Corso), Milan, 1952.

Dominium duplex. Occurs when one person had dominium ex iure Quiritium over a thing, and an­other had ownership, recognized by praetorian law (in bonis), of the same thing, an ownership which was often in a basic contrast with the rules of the quiritary law (ius civile). See the following item.

Di Marzo, BIDR 43 (1936) ; Riccobono, Ser Ferrini (Univ. Pavia, 1946) 34; Ciapessoni, St su Gaio, 1943, 93; La Rosa, AnCat 3 (1949) ; Solazzi, SDHI 16 (1950) 286.

Dominium ex iure Quiritium. Ownership which a Roman citizen has acquired according to the prin­ciples of ius civile (ius Quiritium) of things which under that law could be in private ownership. The pertinent action for the recovery of such things was the rei vindicatio. Ant. in bonis habere — owner­ship which was recognized by, and under the pro­tection of, the ius honorarium.—C. 7.25.—See in BONIS ESSE, DOMINIUM DUPLEX, NUDUM IUS QUIRI­TIUM.

Sinaiski, St Riccobono 4 (1936) 39.

Dominium iustum. Ownership legally acquired.—See HASTA.

Dominus. The owner of a thing. He is opposed to the possessor and usufructuary thereof, who have no ownership but hold a thing. In a broader sense “the term dominus comprises also the usufructuary” (D. 42.5.8 pr.). Dominus — the master of a slave. In contractual and particularly in commercial relations, dominus is the principal (dominus negotii) for whom another is acting on mandate or without authoriza­tion (negotiorum gestor).

Lugli, DE 2.

Dominus. A title of the emperor in the later Empire. Hence the period of Roman history from the fourth century is called Dominate.

Neumann, RE 5 ; Lugli, DE 2, 1952 ; Dumas, RHD 10 (1931) 35.

Dominus litis. The person in whose name a trial is conducted by a representative (procurator) appointed by him.

Dominus navis (navium). The owner of a transport ship (or fleet). Syn. navicularius. The latter term is usually applied to owners of smaller vessels.

Dominus negotii. See negotiorum gestio, ratiha­bitio, DOMINUS.

Dominus proprietatis. An owner. The term is less used in a general sense; it serves to stress the con­trast to another person who has an usufruct or an­other right (ius in re aliena) on the same property. —Syn. proprictarius, dominus.

Kaser, Fschr Koschakcr 1 (1939) 465.

Domninus. A Byzantine jurist of the fifth century, probably a professor in the law school in Beirut. Kiibler, RE 5, 1521.

Domus. A house. The house where one is living is considered “his most secure shelter and retreat” (D. 2.4.18). Therefore summons to a trial (in ius vocatio) could not take place in the residence of the defendant. As a matter of rule, “no one should be taken (by force) from his home” (D. 50.17.103). Domus has sometimes the significance of jamilia, gens, or of a temple.—See domicilium, ius revo­CANDI DOMUM, INSTRUCTUM, INSTRUMENTUM FUNDI, INTROIRE DOMUM.

Calza, DE 2, 2060; Polak, The inviolability of the house, Symbolae van Oven (1946) 251.

Domus augusta (divina, dominica, regia). The im­perial household or the private property of the em­peror or the empress.—C. 11.72; 77; 3.26.

Seeck, RE 4, 651; Neumann, RE 5; Calza, DE 2, 2061.

Domus divina. See domus augusta.—C. 3.26; 7.56. Lecrivain, DS 3, 961; Calza, DE 2, 2062; Ensslin, SbMiinch 1943, Heft 6, pp. 37, 71..

Donare. To make a gift. “It is held to be donated what is given without any legal obligation” (D. ■39.5.29 pr.). See donatio. The giit = donum, munus. The first term is broader, the latter refers rather to customary gifts, given on certain occasions or as a voluntary compensation for services rendered.

Donarium. A votive offering.

Donatio. An act of liberality by which the donor (donator) hands over or promises a gift to the donee with the intention to make a gift (animus donandi) and without expecting any reciprocal performance. The donor, however, may express the wish that the recipient fulfill a certain act or render a service; see donatio sub modo. A donation may be made also in the form of a release of a debtor from his debt by the creditor (acceptilatio). The promise of a gift to be given in the future required the form of a stipulatio in classical law; it was formless in Jus­tinian’s law. A donatio must bring about an enrich­ment of the donee in any form, not only in money, for instance, when the right to dwell in the donor’s house is gratuitously granted. Hence the payment of a debt which is not actionable (obligatio naturalis) is not a donatio. For restrictions concerning both the amount of gifts and the group of persons to whom unlimited gifts could be given, see lex cincia. A distinction is made between donations inter vivos (becoming effective during the lifetime of donor and donee) and donations mortis causa, made condition­ally and effective when the donee survived the donor.

In the later Empire certain donations had to be made before public officials and registered in public archives (insinuatio actis). Justinian made the insinuatio ob­ligatory for donations over 500 solidi, but various types of donations were exempt from that formality. Donations of a smaller amount were valid when made in a formless agreement, pactum donationis.—Inst. 2.7; D. 39.5; C. 8.53; 54.—See animus donandi, LEX CINCIA, COLLATIO DONATIONIS, CONTRACTUS IUDI- CUM, EXCEPTAE PERSONAE, MODUS DONATIONIS, REVO­CARE DONATIONEM, CONFIRMARE DONATIONEM, NEGO­TIUM MIXTUM, USUCAPIO PRO DONATO, STIPULATIO donationis, and the following items.

Leonhard, RE 5 ; Baudry, DS 2 ; Ascoli, NDI 5 ; Ricco- bono, Mèi Girard 2 (1912) 415; idem, ZSS 34 (1913) 159; Perozzi, Scr giur. 2 (1948, ex 1897) 655; J. Stock, Zum Begriff der donatio, 1932; A. Ascoli, Trattato delle dona­zioni, 2nd ed. 1935 ; Bussi, La donazione, in CristDirPriv, 1935; H. Kriiger, ZSS 60 (1940) 80; Arangio-Ruiz, FIR 3 (1943) nos. 93 ff. ; B. Biondi, Successione testamentaria, 1943, 631 ; idem, Scr Ferrini 1 (Univ. Sacro Cuore, 1947) 102 (Bibl.) ; J. R. LĂ©vy, RIDA 3 (= Mèi De Visscher 2, 1949) 91 ; Archi, St Solazzi, 1948, 740; idem, La donazione, 1950; E. Levy, West Roman Vulgar Law, 1951, 137.

Donatio ante nuptias. A gift given to the fiancée by the fiancé.. If marriage did not follow, the gift could not be claimed back unless it was made under such condition. In Justinian’s law such condition is self­understood. Justinian’s predecessor, Justinus, per­mitted donations between spouses which under classi­cal law were forbidden (see donatio inter virum et uxorem). Such donations (donatio propter nup­tias) were considered a counterpart to the dowry and subject to analogous rules. Hence the name antipherna ( — counterdowry). The provisions con­cerning the restitution of a donatio propter nuptias in the case of divorce or of the husband’s death were equally applied as in the case of a dowry.—C. 5.3 ; 14. See DOS», COLLATIO DONATIONIS ANTE NUPTIAS.

Holldack, Fg Guterbock, 1910, 505; Schedilo, RStDIt 2, 3 (1929, 1930); F. Branditone, Scritti 1 (1931) 117; Vismara, CristDirPriv, 1935; Vaccari, CentCodPav, 1933, 251 ; L. F. Re, De donationibus ante nuptias, Rome, 1935 ; L. Anne, Le rite de fian^ailles et la donation pour cause de marriage sous le Bas-Empire, Louvain, 1941 ; L. Caes, Le status juridique de la sponsalicia largitas, Courtrai; 1949. Donatio inter virum et uxorem. A gift made by the husband tQ his wife or vice versa. They were origi­nally valid and not subject to the restrictions of the lex cincia since the spouses belonged to the category of persons exempt from the restrictions of the statute (personae exceptae). Such donations were later prohibited. The prohibition was sanctioned by the legislation of Augustus who seemingly confirmed what customary law had introduced before (moribus receptum est). An oration of the emperors Severus and Caracalla restored the validity of such donations in a.d. 206 in case of the donor’s death before that of the other spouse if the marriage was still existing at the time of his death.—D. 24.1 ; C. 5.16.—See re­tentiones DOTALES.

Baudry, DS 2; De Medio, Divieto di donarc tra i coniugi, 1902; F. Dumont, Les donations cntrc epoux, 1928; J. B. Thayer, On gifts between husband and wife, Cambridge, Mass., 1929; Siber, ZSS 53 (1933) 99; J. G. A. Wilms, Schenkingen tusschcn Echtgenoolen, Gent, 1934; De Ro­berts, AnBari 1936, 37; Lauria, St Albertoni 2 (1937) 513; L. Aru, La donasione fra coniugi, 1938; C. Stoicesco, La date de la prohibition de donations i. v. et u., Revista Clasica (Paris-Bucharest) 1939-1940; Scherillo, St Solmi 1 (1941) 169; B. Biondi, Succcssione testamentaria, 1943, 649.

Donatio inter vivos. See donatio mortis causa.

Donatio mortis causa. A gift made by a donor in the assumption that he would die before the donee. It was effective after the donor’s death. The dona­tion was invalidated if the donee died when the donor was still living. Donations made by a man seriously ill or in a time of a particular danger, might expressly be connected with the condition that they become void if the donor recovered or remained safe. A donatio mortis causa has a similar function as a legacy. It differs from the latter in that it is not made in a testament. In the later development it was assimi­lated to the legacy in many respects and some rules governing the law of legacies were extended to donatio mortis causa. Ant. donatio inter vivos, which is effective when the donor arid the donee are alive.— D. 39.6; C. 8.56.—See donatio, revocare donati- onem.

E. F. Bruck, Schenkung für den Todesfall, 1909; F. Senn, Etudes sur le droit des obligations, 1. La donation ä cause de mort, 1914; Haymann, ZSS 38 (1918) 209; B. Biondi, AnPer 1914, 188; idem, Successione testamentaria, 1943, 703.

Donatio perfecta. A gift is accomplished (and conse­quently cannot be invalidated) when the thing pre­sented entered irrevocably into the patrimony of the donee, as, for instance, when a res mancipi was trans­ferred by mancipatio or in iure cessio, or a res nec mancipi was delivered over to the donee. Generally a donatio is considered perfecta when the donor had no action for demanding back the gift of which the donor had acquired full ownership.

B. Biondi, Successione testamentaria, 1943, 641; S. di Paola, D. m. c., (Catania, 1950).

Donatio propter nuptias. See donatio ante nup­tias, ANTIPHERNA. C. 5.3.

Donatio sub modo. A donation in which the donor imposed on the donee a certain performance (for instance, the erection of a monument in his honor). The term modus was unknown to the classical lan­guage in such connection. The beneficiary was only morally obliged to fulfill the donor’s wish, unless it was expressed in the form of a condition (“si...”) of the validity of the donatio or the donee assumed the pertinent duty by a stipulatio. Imperial and Justinian’s legislation gave the donor and his heirs means to enforce the fulfillment of the modus or to annul the donation.—C. 8.54.—See negotium mix­tum, modus.

F. Haymann, Schenkung unter einer Auflage, 1905; Schulz, Fschr Zitelmann, 1923; Giffard, ACDR, Roma, 2 (1935) 135; B. Biondi, Successions testament aria, 1943, 710; G. Wesenberg, Vertrage zu Gunsten Dritter, 1949, 29.

Donativum. A donation in money given to soldiers by the emperor on special occasions (a triumph, ac­cession to the throne, birthday).

Fiebiger, RE 5.

Donator. See donatio.

Donum. See DONARE, DONATIO.

Dorotheus. A law professor in Beirut in Justinian’s time. He was a member of the commission which compiled the Digest and the second edition of Jus­tinian’s Code. Together with Theophilus he edited the Institutes (see institutinones iustiniani) as a part of the emperor’s legislative work. He wrote a summary (index) of the Digest.

Jors, RE 5, 1572, no. 22.

Dos. A dowry, i.e., goods given to the bridegroom by the bride or somebody else, primarily her father, for her, in view of the marriage to be concluded. Syn. res uxoria. Normally the dowry was bestowed be­fore the conclusion of the marriage, but it could also be given afterwards. According to the classical law the husband was the legal owner of the dowry; he was, however, limited in the disposal since it was meant as a contribution to the maintenance of the common household and had to be returned at the end of the marriage to the wife, her heir, or another per­son. The husband’s ownership was therefore rather formal which found its expression in the opinion that the dos is only in bonis mariti. He had, however, full administration of the dowry which he had to manage as a bonus pater familias and he could use the proceeds thereof. He could not alienate landed property belonging to the dowry as a matter of prin­ciple (see LEX IULIA DE FUNDO DOTALl), except with the wife’s consent. The same principle applied to the manumission of slaves that formed part of the dowry. The husband was liable for the value of slaves manu­mitted without the wife’s approval. “There is no dowry where there is no marriage” (D. 23.3.3). Hence a dowry constituted before the conclusion of a marriage was held to have been made under the tacit condition that the marriage would follow (si nuptiae fuerint secutae). The restitution of the dowry could be claimed by actio ex stipulatu if the provisions concerning the restitution were set in the husband’s stipulatio (cautio rei uxoriae). Formless agreements regulating the problems connected with the restitution of the dowry, in particular in the case of a divorce, were later admitted (pactum nuptiale, pactum dotale, instrumentum dotale). Generally a specific action for the recovery of the dowry lay against the husband {actio, iudicium rei uxoriae) independ­ently of a particular agreement on the matter. It is not certain whether the action was bonae fidei, but the judge, no doubt, had to consider ex aequo et bono the questions connected with the restitution. The rules concerning the restitution made a distinction as to whether the marriage came to an end by the death of one of the consorts or by divorce, and, in case of divorce whether the husband or the wife was at fault. The husband was granted the beneficium compe­tentiae and had the right to keep some parts of the dowry for various reasons (see retentiones, im­pensae dotales). Justinian’s law introduced impor­tant reforms. The problem of the husband’s rights over the res dotales was solved simply by granting him onlyyan usufruct; the actio rei uxoriae was de­clared art actio bonae fidei.—D. 23.3 ; 4 ; 5 ; 24.3 ; 25.1 ; C. 5.12 ; 13 ; 14 ; 15 ; 18 ; 19 ; 20 ; 22 ; 23 ; 7.74.— See COLLATIO DOTIS, DATIO DOTIS, DICTIO DOTIS, PRO­MISSIO DOTIS, FAVOR DOTIS, BENEFICIUM COMPETEN­TIAE, CONDICTIO CAUSA DATA, CONDICTIO SINE CAUSA, INSTRUMENTUM DOT ALE, IMPENSAE DOTALES, EDIC­TUM DE ALTERUTRO, RETENTIONES DOTALES, USUCAPIO pro dote, and the following items.

Leonhard, RE 5 ; Baudry, DS 2 ; Sacchi, NDI 5 ; Berger, OCD 540 ; S. Solazzi, Restituzione della dote, 1899 ; Gra- denwitz, Mèi GĂ©rardin, 1907, 283; P. Noailles, L’inaliena- bilitĂ© dotale (Ann. Univ. Grenoble) 1919;.Biondi, AnPal 7 (1920) 179; L. Tripiccione, L’actio rei uxoriae e radio ex stipulatu nella restituzione della dote, 1920; Capocci, BIDR 37 (1928) 139; Grosso, RISG 3 (1928) 39; LĂ©maire, Mèi Fournier, 1929; Stella-Maranca, AnBari, 1928/1, 1929/1; Riccobono, TR 9 (1929) 23; Arno, 37 Bonfante 1 (1930) 81; Albertario, Studi 1 (1933) 281 (several articles); Naber, St Riccobono, 3 (1936) 231 ; J. Sontis, Digestensumme des* Anonymus, 1. Dotalrecht, 1937; Lauria, ANap 58 (1937) 219; C. Ai Maschi, Con­cezione naturalistica, 1937, 313; Castello, SDH I 4 (1938) ; Orestano, St Bonolis 1 (1942) 9; Dumont, RHD 22 (1943) 1; Kagan, TulLR 20 (1946) 597; Lavaggi, AG 134 (1947) 24; Pfliiger, ZSS 65 (1947) ; Wolff, ZSS 66 (1948) 31; Kaser, RIDA 2 (=Mèl De Visscher 1, 1949) 511; Maschi, AnTr 18 (1948) 78; M. Ricca-Barberis, La garenzia per evizione della dote, 1950.

Dos adventicia. A dowry given for the woman not by her father (see dos profecticia) but by another person, or constituted by herself when she was sui iuris.

Albertario, Studi 1 (1933) 283.

Dos aestimata. See aestimatio dotis.

Dos fundi. See INSTRUMENTUM FUNDI.

Dos profecticia. A dowry given by the father of the bride or wife (a patre profecta). When the wife died before the husband, the father might claim the dowry back, but the husband was entitled to keep one fifth thereof for each child. Ant. dos adventicia.

Dos recepticia. A dowry which after the death of the wife was to be returned to the person who had given it, according to a stipulatory promise of the receiver. Solazzi, SDH I 5 (1939) 223.

Dositheanum fragmentum. See fragmentum dosi- theanum.

Dotalis. See FUNDUS dotalis, instrumentum do­tale, PACTA DOTALIA, IMPENSAE DOTALES, RETENTI­ONES DOTALES.

Dotare. To give a dowry. It was a moral duty of the head of a family to bestow a dowry upon his daughter (or granddaughter). To enter a marriage without a dowry (indotata) was considered humiliat­ing to the woman. Clients (clientes) used to endow the daughter of their patron with a dowry. Justinian speaks explicitly of ancient laws which held the as­signment of a dowry a paternum officium. Under his legislation it became a legal duty of the father and under certain circumstances also of the mother.— See FAVOR DOTIS.

G. Castelli, Intorno all’origine dell’obbligo di d., BIDR 26 (1913, 164 = Scribi, 1923).

Dotis causa. As a dowry, in order to assign a dowry. Dotis dictio. See dictio DOTIS.

Duae partes. Two-thirds. The presence of this ma­jority of members of the municipal council (ordo de­curionum) was required for the validity of its deci­sions.

Dubitare (dubitatio). To doubt. Various locutions with dubitare refer to controversial legal problems (dubitationis est, dubitationem recipit). Justinian calls attention to some controversial discussions of the classical jurists by using the phrase apud veteres dubitatum est.—See ius controversum.

A. B. Schwarz, ZSS 69 (1952) 349.

Dubius. See RES DUBIAE, PROCUL DUBIO.-------------- D. 34.5.

Ducator navis. See gubernator navis, magister NAVIS.

Ducatus. The rank of a dux.

Ducenarius. An imperial official with a salary of 200.000 sesterces. See centenarius.

Vulic, DE 2.

Ducentesima. (Sc. usura.) See centesima.

Ducere aquam. See aquae ductus, servitus aquae­ductus.

Ducere liberos. See INTERDICTUM DE LIBERIS EXHI­BENDIS.

Ducere uxorem. To marry a woman. Ducere in domum suam, see deductio in domum. For the interdictum de uxore ducenda, see interdictum de LIBERIS EXHIBENDIS.

Duci (ferri) iubere. If the defendant in an actio in rem (a rei vindicatio, for instance) for a movable refused to “enter” the trial (to cooperate in the litis contestatio), the praetor might order that the thing in dispute be taken (ferri) by the plaintiff, or when the object of the controversy was a slave, that he be led off (duci). This was also the case when, sued for his slave’s wrongdoing by an actio noxalis, the master refused to defend thè slave. Duci or ferri iubere might be pronounced by the praetor when the thing or the slave was present before court. If the de­fendant denied having the thing (or the slave) in his possession, an actio ad exhibendum lay against him which he could not evade, this action being an actio in personam. Duci iubere also occurred when the defendant in a civil trial had been condemned (con- demnatus), and refused to defend himself in a trial for the execution of the judgment (actio iudicati) and to pay the judgment-debt: the creditor was authorized by the praetor to “lead away” (dueere) the debtor.

Leonhard, RE 4, 2244; Humbert, DS 2 (s.v. debitoris ductio) ; Pissard, Et Girard (1912) 241.

Duciani. The retinue of a dux; ducianus (adj.) con­nected with office of a dux.

Dumtaxat. (In the procedural formula.) See con- dem NATIO, TAXATIO.

Duo (or plures) rei promittendi. Two or more debt­ors owing the same sum as a whole (in solid it in). Through the payment made by one of them the obli­gation of the other (or others) is extinguished. Syn. correi. Ant. duo rei stipulandi = two or more creditors to whom one debtor owes the same sum. Payment made to one of the creditors releases the debtor from his obligation to others. In such obli­gations for which modern terminology created the terms “correality” and “solidarity,” one object (una res, eadem pecunia) is due, but there is a plurality of debtors or creditors. Obligatory relations in soli­dum arise through a stipulatio when in the case of a plurality of creditors the debtor gives only one answer to identical questions of all creditors, or'when in the case of several debtors all of them give the same answer to the creditor’s question. The characteristic feature of such obligations is “the whole is due to every one of the creditors, and every debtor is liable to the whole” (D. 45.2.2). Certain other acts, which generally produce the extinction of an obligation (e.g., acceptilatio, novatio), have an effect similar to that of a payment. If, however, one of the debtors is freed from his obligation owing to a personal reason (capitis deminutio, confusio) the other debtors are not released. Similarly a concession granted by the common creditor to one of the debtors (a pactum de non petendo, for instance) does not exclude the ac­tion against the others. The classical rule that a suit brought against one of the debtors and conducted until litis contestatio extinguished the obligation of the other debtors was abolished by Justinian. He permitted the creditor to sue one debtor after another until he received full payment. The question as to the rights of a debtor who paid the whole, against his co-debtors, or of a creditor against that of the credi­tors who received the full payment, depends upon the internal relation among the debtors or creditors, re­spectively.—Inst. 3.16; D. 45.2; C. 8.39.—See bene­FICIUM DIVISIONIS, BENEFICIUM CEDENDARUM ACTI­ONUM.

Leonhard, RE 4 (s.v. duo rei) ; J. Kerr Wylie, St in R Law, 1. Solidarity and correality, Edinburgh, 1923; Bon­fante, Scritti 3 (1926) 209, 368, 4 (1925) 568; Cuq, Mel Cornil 1 (1926) ; Collinet, St Albertoni 1 (1935) ; Grosso, StSas 16 (1938) 3; idem, RDCom 38 (1940) 224; Alber- tario, St Besta 1 (1939) 3; idem, St Calisse, 1939; idem, Obbligazioni solidali (Corso), 1944; idem, Fschr Wenger 1 (1944) 83; M. Lucifredi Peterlongo, Intorno all’unitd o pluralità di vincoli nella solidarietà contrattuale, 1941 (Bibl. p. 1) ; Archi, ConfCast, 1940, 241; idem, SDHI 8 (1942) 199; idem, Obbligasioni solidali (Corso), 1949.

Duodecim tabulae. See lex duodecim tabularum. Duovirales (duoviralicii). Persons who in a colony or municipium occupied the post of a duovir.

Duoviratus (duumviratus). The office of a duovir.

Duoviri (duumviri). Local magistrates in Rome, Italy and the provinces with varied functions. The principle of collegiality was observed in this magis­tracy too, since there were always two duoviri at least. —See decuriones, and the following items.

Liebenam, RE 5; Humbert, DS 2; Anon., NDI 5; Anto- nielli, DE 2.

Duoviri aedi dedicandae. Extraordinary magistrates who according to a decree of the senate, had to per­form the dedication of a public area to a deity for the construction of a temple, or the dedication of a temple already constructed. A person who as a magistrate erected a temple at his own expenses might be later appointed a duovir aedi dedicandae in order to dedicate it when he was no longer in office. Liebenam, RE 5, 1801 ; De Ruggiero, DE 1, 165.

Duoviri aedi locandae. Two magistrates appointed for the construction of a temple, if the matter was not managed by a higher magistrate (a consul, prae­tor, or censor). Sometimes they were identical with the duoviri aedae dedicandae.

Liebenam, RE 5, 1802.

Duoviri aediles. Two municipal officials with func­tions similar to those of the aediles in Rome. They had the right to impose fines.—See multa.

Kubitschek, RE 1, 460; De Ruggiero, DE 1, 244.

Duoviri iuri dicundo. Heads of the municipal admin­istration and the highest judicial magistrates in Italian and provincial cities. Together with the duoviri aediles they formed a board of four officials (quat- tuorviri). Several local statutes (Lex Malacitana, Lex Rubria, Lex lulia Municipalis, Lex Coloniae Genetivae luliae) deal with the official activities of the duoviri iuri dicundo. They were elected by the local assemblies for one year. Each of them could exercise the right of intercessio against the other’s acts. It often happened that the emperor was elected as a duovir; in that case another duovir was not elected and the emperor appointed in his place a praefectus. The functions of a duovir were similar to those of the consuls and praetors in Rome, with certain re­strictions in the jurisdictional field, both civil and criminal.

Liebenam, RE 5, 1804; Kubler, RE 4, 2339.

Duoviri navales. Instituted in 311 b.c., they took care of the needs of the fleet and commanded a patrol for the defense of the coast.

Fiebiger, RE 5, 1800.

Duoviri perduellionis. In the time of the kingship they were appointed by the king to try cases of per­due Ilio (high treason) when such crimes occurred. Under the Republic the consuls continued to appoint them (they are mentioned last in 63 b.c.) although since the middle of the third century b.c. the plebeian tribunes took cases of perduellio under their juris­diction.

Liebenam, RE 5, 1799.

Duoviri quinquennales. Duoviri in municipalities and colonies, elected once in five years and charged with the census of the population.

Duoviri sacris faciundis. Priests, originally two (un­der the kings, later ten, decemviri sacris faciundis, and fifteen, quindecimviri sacris faciundis) whose particular function was to take care of, and inter­pret the Sibilline books of oracles (libri Sibyllini).— See ludi saeculares.

Bloch, DS 2, 426; Boyce, TAmPhilolAs 69 (1938) 161.

Duoviri viis extra urbem purgandis. Lower magis­trates charged with the maintenance of the roads outside of Rome. They belonged to the group of vigintisexviri and were subordinate to the aediles.

Duplae (sc. pecuniae) stipulatio. See stipulatio DUPLAE.

Duplex dominium. See dominium duplex.

Duplex iudicium. See iudicia duplicia.

Duplicatio. See replicatio. There is a confusion of terminology in the sources. What Gaius calls dupli­catio (an objection made by the defendant to the plaintiff’s replicatio) is called by Ulpian triplicatio which, however, to Gaius is the plaintiff’s objection to the duplicatio of the defendant.

Duploma. See diploma.

Duplum. Double. Actiones in duplum = actions in which the defendant is condemned to pay double damages or price paid by the plaintiff when he pur­chased the object in dispute.—See actiones in sim­plum, infitiatio, revocatio in duplum, stipulatio DUPLAE, USURAE ULTRA DUPLUM.

Dupondii. Students “of two asses”; a frivolous nick­name given by advanced students to those of the first year (freshmen) of legal studies, because of their poor preparation in law.—See iustiniani novi.

Cantarelli, RendLinc, ser. 6, vol. 2 (1926) 20; Kretschmar, ZSS 48 (1928) 559.

Dupondius (dupundius). Two asses. With regard to heirs instituted in a testament the term refers to the following case: if the testator exhausted the whole estate by distributing it among certain heirs and in­stituted besides them other heirs to some portions of the estate, the estate is reckoned not as one as (see as) but as two asses, the former group receiving one- half of the inheritance, the latter group the second half. Duumviri. See duoviri.

Dux (duces). The head of a military district in the later Empire when the military power was taken from the provincial governors and transferred to the duces. They were commanders of a larger military unit on the frontiers of the Empire (duces limitum).—See DUCIANI, DUCATUS.

Seeck, RE 5; Vulic, DE 2; R. Grosse, Rom. Militarge- setse, 1920, 152.