Roman Law Terms with Letters V

Vacans possessio. See vacua possessio.

Vacantes. With reference to public officials in the later Empire, see HONORARII.

Kiibler, RE 7A.

Vacantia (vacua) bona. See bona vacantia.

Vacare. To be accessible to all. See res communes omnium. Vacare a(muneribus) = to be exempt from (certain charges or duties) ; see vacatio.

Vacarius. A professor at the law school of Bologna in the twelfth century, founder of the school of law at Oxford, author of summaries of Justinian’s Insti­tutes and Digest.

F. Liebermann, Engl. Historical Rev. 11 (1896) 305 ; F. De Zulueta, The liber pauperum of V. (1927) ; Ferrari, RStDIt 3 (1930) 468; P. Koschaker, Europa und das rbm. Recht (1947) 74; Ambrosino, RISG 57 (1950) 414.

Vacatio. The period of time granted a widow or a divorced woman to remain unmarried after the hus­band’s death or the divorce, according to the Lex lulia et Papia Poppaea (two years or one year and a half, respectively).—See secundae nuptiae, uni­vira.

Vacatio. Exemption from public charges, services, or taxes, exemption from the duty to assume a guardian­ship.—C. 10.45.—See vacatio munerum, excusa­tiones A TUTELA.

Lammert, RE 7A.

Vacatio a forensibus negotiis. See feriae.

Vacatio bonorum. See bona vacantia.

Vacatio militiae. See immunis.

Vacatio munerum (a muneribus). Exemption from compulsory public services and charges (see mu­nera). It expired when the reason therefor (sick­ness, old age, absence in the interest of the state) disappeared.—D. 50.5; C. 10.46.

Kiibler, RE 16, 648.

Vacatio tutelae (a tutela). See excusationes a tutela.

Vacillare. To hesitate, to be unsteady in bearing testi­mony. A witness who is unsettled in his testimony does not deserve belief and “should not be heard” (D. 22.5.2).

Vacua pecunia. Money not placed at interest.—See usurae.

Vacua possessio.

V. Scialoja, Scr giur. 2 (1934, ex 1907) 247; Seckel and Levy, ZSS 47 (1927) 226; M. Bussmann, L’obligation de delivrance du vendeur (Lausanne, 1933) 98; J. De Mala- fosse, L’interdit momentariae possessionis (These Tou­louse, 1949) 90.

Vacuus. Syn. VACANS.

Varies. See vas.

Vadimonium. A promise in the form of a stipulatio made by a defendant in a trial already under way, or by a debtor summoned by his creditor, concerning due appearance in court. In the case of summons by the plaintiff (see in ius vocatio) to go with him immediately to court, when the defendant was not able or willing to do so and did not offer a personal surety (see vindex), the vadimonium took place extrajudicially. The wdimoniufM-promise was made in court if the proceedings before the magistrate were not concluded on the first day and the defendant had to guarantee his reappearance on another day. In certain cases the vadimonium was a vadimonium purum (i.e., without security), in others it was strengthened by an oath or a real security. The vadimonium could not exceed half the value of the object in dispute, and in no case one hundred thou­sand sesterces. If the defendant failed to appear, the plaintiff could sue him for payment of the vadi­monium on the ground of his stipulatory promise, unless the defendant could justify his absence. The changes in civil procedure in the later law rendered the vadimonium obsolete. It does not appear in Justinian’s legislative work, where it was replaced by the cautio (satisdatio) iudicio sisti.—See vas and the following items.

Steinwenter, RE 7A; Fliniaux, DS 5; Aru, NDI 12, 2; R. Jacquemier, Le v. (These Paris, 1900) ; A. Fliniaux, Le v. (These Paris, 1908); Debray, NRHD 34 (1910) 521; G. Cicogna, Vindex e v., 1911; Lenel, Edictum per- pctuum* (1927) 80; A. Palermo, Il proccdimcnto cauzionale (1942) 17.

Vadimonium deserturn. (From deserere.) Occurred when the defendant did not appear in court on the date fixed, contrary to his vadimonium promise.—See vadimonium.

Steinwenter, RE 7A, 2059; Herzen, NRHD 35 (1911) 145. Vadimonium facere adversario. An extrajudicial declaration (“vadimonium tibi facto”) made by a creditor to his debtor on the occasion of in ius vocatio, by which he imposed on the latter, who did not follow him immediately to court, the duty to appear on a certain day and hour "ante tribunal prae­toris urbani” (= before the tribunal of the urban praetor). The declaration was followed by a stipu­latio under which the summoned debtor assumed the pertinent obligation.

Arangio-Ruiz, La parola del passato, fasc. 8 (1948) 138.

Vadimonium iureiurando. In provincial practice (only in Egypt?) the stipulatory promise of a vadi­monium was strengthened by an oath.

La Pira, St Albertoni 1 (1935) 443.

Vadimonium Romam faciendum. A promise of a vadimonium made in a municipal court, before which the plaintiff’s claim was brought, to appear on a fixed day before the praetor in Rome in the same matter.

Fliniaux, DS 5, 621; Lend, Edictum perpetuum³ (1927) 55; La Pira, St Albertoni 1 (1935) 443.

Vadimonium recuperatoribus suppositis. A promise of a vadimonium in which it was stipulated that, in the case of the defendant’s non-appearance in court, the matter was to be presented immediately to the tribunal of recuperatores who could condemn him to the sum of the vadimonium without delay.

Yvonne Bongert, in Varia (Publications de I’Institut de droit rom. de I’Univ, de Paris, 9) 1952, 165.

Vagari. To stroll from place to place. A vagrant slave = ERRO.

Valens. See ABURNIUS.

Valere. With regard to legal transactions and acts, to be legally valid (effective). Syn. effectum, vires habere {tenere), iure consistere, ratum esse. Ant. non valere, nullius esse momenti. With regard to things valere — to have a certain value.

Hellman, ZSS 23 (1902) 423.

Valerius Probus. See notae iuris.

Valerius Severus. (Also mentioned as Severus Va­lerius.) An unknown jurist of the first century of the Principate. He is cited by Julian and Ulpian.

Kunkel, Herkunft und sosiale Stellung der rom. Juristen, 1952, 154.

Valetudo. Health. The term is generally used for bad health, physical or mental disease. In specific circumstances sickness was recognized as an excuse for non-appearance in court or for exemption from assuming a guardianship.—See morbus.

Validus. Strong, important, legally valid. Ant. in­validus, nullus, nullius momenti.—See valere.

Vallare. To strengthen the efficiency or validity of a legal transaction or act by a stipulatio, or by �some better means of evidence. The term occurs in the language of the imperial chancery.

Vanus. Legally worthless, useless. For vanus homo, timor vanus, see metus.

Variae causarum figurae. Various types of causes. This general expression includes all sources of obli­gations (D. 44.7.1 pr.) beyond the typical ones (con­sensus, res, verba, litterae).—See obligatio.

Variare. See ius variandi.

Varius Lucullus. An unknown jurist of the first cen­tury of the Principate (?), mentioned but once in the Digest.

Kunkel, Herkunjt und sosiale Stellung dcr rom. Juristen, 1952, 140.

Varro, Marcus Terentius. (Died 27 b.c.) The fa­mous author of Le lingua Latina (On the Latin Language) and Res rusticae (Country-life), cited as the author of a treatise (in fifteen books), De iure civili, which is not preserved. Valuable juristic ma­terial is to be found in the works just mentioned above.

Dahlmann, RE Suppl. 6, 1254; Sanio, Varroniana in den Schriften rom.

Varus. See ALFENUS VARUS.

Vas. (Pl. vades.) A surety which guaranteed the appearance of the defendant before the magistrate in the earliest law, in the procedure by legis actio. Origin and details are obscure but a connection with vadimonium is beyond any doubt. According to Varro, de I. Lat. 6.74, vas = qui pro altero vadimo­nium promittebat (he who promised a vadimonium for another). A vas could himself offer security through a surety, subvas. Vades were also acceptable in criminal matters in the earlier procedure.

Steinwenter, RE 7A, 2054 (s.v. vadimonium) ; Fliniaux, DS 12, 2, 615; Lenel, ZSS 23 (1902) 97; Schlossmann, ZSS 26 (1905) 285; E. Levy, Sponsio, fideiussio (1906) 26; Mitteis, Fschr Bekker (Aus rom. und burgerl. Recht, 1912) 285; De Martino, SDHI (1940) 141; L. Maillet, La theorie de Schuld et Haftung en droit rom. (1944) 91; M. Kaser, Das altrom. Ius (1949) 270.

Vasa. Vessels. In a legacy of wine, the testator’s vessels in which the wine was kept were understood to be included.

Vasaria publica. Public archives in which the records concerning the census of the population were pre­served (from the fifth century after Christ on).

Vasarium. Allowance of money given to the provin­cial governor for food, transportation, clothing, do­mestic establishment, and salary of his staff.—See SALARIUM, CIBARIA.

Vates. See VATICINATOR.

Vaticana fragmenta. See fragmenta vaticana.

Vaticinatio. Fortune-telling, prophecy; see vatici­nator, divinatio.

Vaticinator. A fortune-teller, a soothsayer. The pro­fession of a vaticinator was reckoned among artes magicae which endangered the public order since “through human credulity public morals were cor­rupted and the minds of the people confused” (Paul, Sent. 5.21.1).

Bouche-Leclercq, DS 2, 317; Pease, OCD 292 (s.v. divina­tion, no. 4).

Vectigal. The rent paid by the lessee of an ager publicus.—See AGER VECTIGALIS, ACTIO VECTIGALIS, IUS VECTIGALE.

Vectigal (vectigalia). A general term denoting all sorts of public revenues, such as rents and periodic payments made by lessees of public land (ager pub­licus, see the foregoing item), pastures, woods, salt mines, lakes, rivers, etc., as well as all kinds of taxes, imposts, and custom duties, collected by tax-farmers (see publicani), whether they were paid in kind (originally) or in money.—D. 39.4; C. 4.61; 62.— See AURUM VICESIMARIUM, VICESIMA MANUMISSIO­NUM, VICESIMA HEREDITATIUM, PORTORIUM, CENTE­SIMA RERUM VENALIUM, FRAUDARE VECTIGAL, CRIMEN FRAUDATI VECTIGALIS, RELIQUATOR VECTIGALIUM, CONDUCTORES VECTIGALIUM.

Schwahn, RE 7 A, 25; Cagnat, DS 5; Anon., NDI 12, 2; Stevenson, OCD; Bonelli, Le imposte indirette in R. antica, StDocSD 21 (1900) 27, 287; R. Cagnat, Les impots in­directs chez les Romains, 1882; Pugliese, CentCodPav 1934, 527; Tibiletti, Ath 26 (1948) 182.

Vectigal frumentarium. A tax levied in kind (grain) in certain provinces, primarily Egypt in order to supply Rome.

Rostowzew, RE 7, 157.

Vectigal rerum venalium. A sales tax. See cente­sima rerum venalium. Under the later Principate the sales-tax, originally introduced for auctions, be­came more general (Ulpian, D. 50.16.17.1).—See SILIQUATICUM.

Vectigalis. Connected with, or pertinent to, any kind of VECTIGALIA.—See ACTIO VECTIGALIS.

Vectigalis ager (fundus, vectigale praedium). See AGER VECTIGALIS.

Vector. A ship passenger or an owner of merchandise being shipped.

Solazzi, RDNav 6 (1940) 248.

Vectura. Goods to be transported or the sum paid (or charged) for their transportation. The term is primarily used with regard to transportation by sea. If the ship was lost, restoration of any freight charges paid in advance- could be claimed.

Vel. Or, also, eyen. The conjunction, which fre­quently occurs in Justinian’s constitutions and in doubtless interpolated passages in various combina­tions and structures (vel etiam, vel maxime, vel... aut..., vel... sive..., and the like), is nev­ertheless not a reliable criterion of alterations made by Justinian’s compilers on classical texts accepted into the Digest.

Guarneri-Citati, Indice² (1927) 90; De Martino, ANap 58 (1937) 292 (on vel etiam).

Velamentum. A pretext, an excuse (real or false). Gelamento under the pretext (syn. sub praetextu). The term which occurs only in imperial constitutions, particularly of Diocletian) was used when a person under a true or false excuse tried to rescind the con­sequences of his former acts (e.g., on the excuse his lawyer’s absence or of lack of experience). In all cases the decision was against him.—See excusa­tiones.

Velati. See ACCENSI.

Velites. Light armed troops, 1,200 (later 1,500) men in the four earliest legions of the Roman army, re­cruited from poor citizens. They disappeared about the end of the second century b.c.

Cagnat, DS 5.

Velitis iubeatis. A request addressed to the gathered people by a magistrate, presiding over a popular as­sembly for approval of a proposed statute (“please, approve and order”).—See rogatio legis.

Velie (volo). Refers to the wish (will) of a person, to the expression of his will, and more narrowly to the declaration of will by a person who had a right to choose (eligere, optare, see electio, legatum op­tionis, optio servi) between two ©r more things. The expression of will was taken into consideration only when it was free from compulsion or fear. “He who obeys his father’s or master’s command is not held to express his own will” (D. 50.17.4). “Volo” ( = I wish) was the expression a testator used in his testament when he ordered a manumission, desig­nated a guardian, or bequeathed a legacy (“dari volo”). See VOLUNTAS, NOLLE.

Venaliciarius. A dealer in slaves.

V. Arangio-Ruiz, La società (1950) 141. Venalicium. See vectigal rerum venalium.

Venalis (venalicius). Offered for sale at a market or public auction. In another sense = venal, capable of being bought for money (bribed), e.g., venalis sententia (a judgment which could be obtained by bribing the judge).

Venatio. Hunting. A hunter acquired ownership of a wild animal (see ferae), not domesticated by an­other, even when he killed or caught it on another’s property. If the animal was only wounded, it was held to belong to the huntèr as long as he had chased it. Justinian decided that only the capture of an animal made it the property of the hunter. Among other controversial questions was whether game was among the proceeds (fructus) of the landed property and consequently belonged to the usufructuary or not (see ususfructus). The prevailing opinion was in the affirmative, if hunting was the only source of profit of the usufructuary who had no other proceeds from the land. The owner of a land could prohibit hunting on his property, but even then a hunter acquired ownership of an animal he caught or killed. He could, however, be repelled by the owner acting in self-defense. Weapons used for hunting were considered part of the instrumentum fundi when the chief gain from the land came from hunting.—

C. 11.45.—See ingredi in fundum alienum, occu­patio.

Kaser, RE Suppl. 7, 684 (s.v. occupatio); Reinach, DS 5; Landucci, ND I 2, 588 (j.v. caccia); Schirmer, ZSS 3 (1882 ) 23; B. Kayser, Jagd und Jagdrecht in Rom (1895); V. Ragusa, Brevi appunti sulla v., 1929; P. Bon­fante, Corso 2, 2 (1928) 57; Lombardi, BI DR 53-54 (1948) 273.

Vendere, venditio. See emptio.—See exceptio rei VENDITAE ET TRADITAE, LEX VENDITIONIS.

Vendere actionem. To sell a claim against someone to a third person. Syn. venditio nominis. Such a transaction was possible either as part of the sale of one’s whole property (see BONORUM VENDITIO, venditio hereditatis) or as the cession of a single claim (see cessio).—D. 18.4; C. 4.39.

Vendere hereditatem. See emptio hereditatis.—

D. 18.4; C. 4.39.

Venditio bonorum. See bonorum venditio.

Venditio nominis. See vendere actionem.

Venditio sub corona. Sale of a war prisoner into slavery. He was crowned with a chaplet.

Ehrhardt, RE Suppl. 7, 96.

Venditio sub hasta. See hasta, auctio.—Syn. sub­hastatio.

Venditio trans Tiberim. See servus, addictus, ti­beris.

Venefici. Poisoners. According to the lex Cornelia de sicariis et veneficis (under Sulla’s dictatorship) a veneficus was “one who killed a man by the hateful means of poison or magic practices, or one who pub­licly sold poisonous drugs” (Inst. 4.18.5). Venefici were also those who prepared or kept poison for killing mep.—D. 48.8; C. 9.16.—See veneficium, VENENUM.

Veneficium. A murder by poison. Capital punish­ment was inflicted on the poisoner. Persons of lower social status (humiliores) were crucified or con­demned to fight wild animals.—See venenum, vene­fici.

Lecrivain, DS 5.

Venenum. Poison. A poison to be used for criminal purposes, venenum malum, was distinguished from venenum bonum, a drug which, although poisonous, was used for treatment in certain diseases. Venenum amatorium = a love potion. Severe penalties (de­portation, forced labor in the mines) were inflicted for giving a woman such a drink to cause an abortion (syn. poculum, venenum amatorium), the death pen­alty if she died.

Venerabilis. Worthy of veneration. In the later Em­pire the adj. is applied to the emperor and his family, to the senate, and to the Church (also veneranda Ecclesia). Similar was the use of venerari and veneratio.

Venia. In criminal matters, remission of a penalty by way of indulgence and forbearance for particular personal reasons (mental deficiency, error, or juvenile imprudence of the culprit) or because of circum­stances which recommended forgiveness. Venia was granted by the senate, later by the emperor (see indulgentia principis). Venia might also be granted in civil wrongdoings with regard to the lia­bility of the defendant if his act, though of a delictual nature, was excusable for specific reasons.—See re­stitutio INDULGENTIA PRINCIPIS.

Gatti, AG 115 (1936) 44.

Venia aetatis. A privilege granted by the emperor to a minor whereby he was considered to have attained his majority before the age of twenty-five; the hon­esty of his life and his sagacity could recommend such a benefit. Venia aetatis gave the minor full capacity to conclude legal transactions (except alienation and hypothecation of immovables); in addition, he was freed from curatorship. In the later Empire, venia aetatis was granted only to men over twenty and to women over eighteen. Venia aetatis is also used as syn. with beneficium aetatis = the advantage of being a minor and enjoying protection through restitutio in integrum.—C. 2.44.

Berger, RE 15, 1888 (s.v. minores); R. C. Fischer, Ent­wicklung der v. ae. (1908).

Venire. (From veneo.) To be sold, to be offered for Sale.—See VENUM DARE.

Venire. For dies venit, see cedere.

Venire ad aliquem. To come (fall) to a person (by inheritance or legacy). In another sense, the ex­pression means to sue a person in court, to hold one responsible—ad aliquid — to obtain (e.g., possession, inheritance, ownership, freedom).

Venire contra aliquem. To sue a person, to go to court as a plaintiff against another person. Venire contra (adversus) aliquid = to act against the law or contrary to an agreement.

Venire ex. To originate from; hence venientes ex aliquo — one’s descendants.

Venire in aliquid. To be taken into consideration (e.g., in actionem, iudicium, compromissum, stipula­tionem, collationem), to be computed (in hereditatem — in an inheritance). The phrase venit in iudicium is used of the object of a judicial trial to be con­sidered by the judge.

Venter. The womb. Syn. uterus. Qui in ventre est = nasciturus.—D. 37.9.—See bonorum possessio VENTRIS NOMINE, MISSIO IN POSSESSIONEM VENTRIS NOMINE, INSPICERE VENTREM, SENATUSCONSULTUM PLANCIANUM.

Venuleius Saturninus. A jurist of the second half of the second century after Christ, author of extensive treatises on actions, on interdicts, and on stipulations. Minor works of his deal with the proconsulship and with criminal procedure (iudicia publica). No details about his official career are known. He has fre­quently been identified with two other jurists by the name of Saturninus, Claudius S., and Quintus S.— See _x SATURNINUS.

H. Krüger, GrZ 41 (1915) 318; W. Kunkel, Herkunft und soziale Stellung der rötn. Juristen, 1952, 181.

Venum dare (venumdare). Vendere (to sell) ; ve­num ire, venire (from veneo} = to be sold privately or at a public auction.

Verba. Words. When referring to an oral declaration of a person, the verba are distinguished from either his intention (voluntas, mens, animus, sensus) or a written document (see scriptura). Another dis­tinction is verba—consensus, as sources creating a contract: on the one hand contracts concluded through the use of prescribed oral formulae, on the other hand contracts arising from a simple formless consent of the parties.—See concepta verba, conceptio ver­borum, ACTIO PRAESCRIPTIS VERBIS, OBLIGATIO VER­BORUM, interpretatio, and the following items.

Verba certa ac (et) sollemnia. Words the use of which is prescribed for the validity of an act con­cluded (e.g., stipulatio, acceptilatio, dictio dotis, con­farreatio, appointment of a cognitor in a trial, etc.). In the earlier law, the use of words other than the certa ac sollemnia, rendered the whole transaction void. Gradually, minor changes became permissible. For the development of the stipulatio, the most typical act performed by the use of certa et sollemnia verba, see stipulatio.—See obligatio verborum.

Verba facere. In the senate, to make a report, as the presiding magistrate or as the proponent of a law, on the topic submitted to the senate for discussion or vote. The report was followed either by an immediate vote or by an exchange of opinion among the senators upon request of the chairman (sententias rogare). Senators who were functioning magistrates could par­ticipate in the discussion but could not vote.—See DISCESSIO.

O’Brien-Moore, RE Suppl. 6, 709.

Verba facere ad populum. See contio.

Verba formulae. The text of the procedural formula. —See CONCEPTA VERBA, ACTIO PRAESCRIPTIS VERBIS.

Verba legis (edicti, senatusconsulti). The text of a statute (an edict of a magistrate or a senatusconsul­tum). Sometimes the reference to the verba legis is followed by a literal quotation. From the text of a legal enactment is distinguished its spirit, its intention (ratio, mens, sententia).

Verberare (verberatio). See castigare, fustis, fla­gellum.

Lecrivain, DS 5.

Verbi gratia. For example. The locution is frequent in Gaius.

Verborum obligatio. See obligatio verborum.

Verecundia. Respect, reverence for another person (a parent or a patron), conscientiousness, honesty.

Llcrivain, NRHD 14 (1890) 487; Cicogna, StSen 54 (1940) 53.

Veredi. See ANGARIA.

Verginia. The tragic story of Verginia, as related by Livy (book 44) and Dionysios of Halicarnassus (11.28-37), is connected with the history of the Twelve Tables (see lex duodecim tabularum) and the downfall of the decemvirs (see decemviri legibus scribundis). It gives an interesting picture of a causa liberalis, a trial over the personal status of a girl Verginia, whom the tyrannical decemvir Appius Claudius (450 b.c.) wanted to have declared a slave in court (vindicatio in servitutem). The presentation of the case by the historians touches upon a series of problems connected with the earliest procedure in a causa liberalis, no matter whether the story is true or legendary.

C. Appleton, RHD 24 (1924) 592; M. Nicolau, Causa liberalis (These Paris, 1933) 98; P. Noailles, lus et Fas (1949) 187; v. Oven, TR 18 (1950) 159.

Veritas. Truth. The search for truth (veritatem quaerere, exquirere, perquirere, inquirere, requirere, spectare) is frequently stressed in both criminal and civil trials. For the rule res iudicata pro veritate accipitur, see res iudicata. In veritate esse = to be real, true. The phrase occurs in discussions about the real value of a thing which is the object of a judicial trial, as opposed to the value (interest) it represents to the plaintiff. Hence, ex veritate aesti- mationem facere = to estimate a thing according to its real value (vera aestimatio rei).

Verna. A slave born in the house of his parents’ master. Such slaves generally received better treat­ment.

Starr, CIPhilol 1942, 314.

Versari. To act. The term is used primarily of per­sons who administer the affairs of others (guardians, curators, negotiorum gestores) when their manage­ment is incorrect or to the disadvantage of the bene­ficiaries because of fraud, negligence, or lack of experience on the part of the managers. Versari (in passive voice) = to be taken into account, to be examined (e.g., the factual and legal elements of a case by a judge or by a magistrate when he was requested to grant an action or in the course of a cognitio). Syn. verti.

Versum in rem. (Sc. patris, or do mini.) What turned to the advantage of a father (or master of a slave) from a transaction concluded by a son (filius familias) or slave. Under the actio de in rem verso (see peculium) the father was liable only to the extent of the enrichment he obtained through the transaction (even when he had given his consent thereto), if the son (or slave) did not fulfill the obligation assumed in the transaction. The term versio in rem, used in the literature, is not Roman. —C. 4.26.

Solazzi, St Brugi (1910) 205.

Versura. The conversion of a loan at interest into another loan at a different rate of interest.

G. Billeter, Gesch. des Zinsfusses (1898) 138.

Verti. See VERSARI.

Verum est. It is true, it is correct. Through this expression which occurs very frequently in juristic writings, the jurists either underscored indisputable opinions or limited a previous rule by referring it solely to a specific situation: “this holds true only when...” {quod it a demum verum est, si..., or totiens quotiens — in any case whenever...). The jurists also used a negative formula with verum est (quod non, or minime verum est) to express their disagreement with another opinion. Sometimes an approval expressed in the form of verum est may originate from the pen of Justinian’s compilers, espe­cially when two divergent opinions are cited. The same is true of the locution quod verum (verius, verissimum) est, when a discussion is closed by such a statement (or quae sententia ver a est). The deci­sion as to whether such a clause in a specific text is interpolated or not is a very difficult one, since, after all, the jurists must have had and used certain ex­pressions to stress their agreement with another au­thor’s Opinion. See VERUS.

Guarneri-Citati, Indice² (1927) 91 and St Riccobono 1 (1936) 719 (s.v. esse).

Verus. Real, true, authentic. It is opposed to falsus (e.g., verus tutor, verum testamentum, veri codicilli, verum testimonium). For vera rei aestimatio, see veritas. The adjective is also used to indicate the real (not simulated or fictitious) legal quality of a transaction or personal situation (e.g., verus emptor, debitor, her es, dominus, vera donatio, verum divor­tium). Sententia vera = a just, correct legal opinion; see VERUM EST.

Vestales virgines. Priestesses (originally five or even fewer, later six) of the goddess Vesta, the symbol of chastity. Their legal situation was similar to that of the pontifices and flamines. They were not subject to patria potestas nor bound by any family ties. Nor were they under tutela mulierum. They were sub­ject to the jurisdiction of the pontiffs for negligence in the fulfillment of their religious duties; there was no appeal from the judgment of the pontifices. For unchastity they were scourged to death. The Vestales were selected among girls of six to ten years of age, born of patrician parents whose marriage had been concluded through confarreatio. Normally their serv­ice lasted thirty years, thereafter they were permitted to leave and to marry.—See lex papia, lex voconia.

Hild, DS 5; Rose, OCD; G. Wissowa, Religion und Kultus der Römer² (1902 ) 433; Aron, NRHD 28 (1904) 5; Brassloff, Zeitschr. für vergleichende Rechtswissenschaft 22 (1909) ; T. C. Worsfold, The history of the Vestal Vir­gins of Rome, London (1934); Münzer, Philologus 92 (1937) 47, 199; Solazzi, SDH I 9 (1943) 113.

Vestis collatio (vestis militaris). A tax for military equipment.

Cagnat, DS 5, 773.

Vestis forensis. See TOGA.

Vestis militaris. Clothes for soldiers; they were to be furnished by the provincial population (in the Empire) in the same way as food (see annona militaris).—C. 12.39.

Cagnat, DS 5; A. W. Persson, Staat und Manufaktur im röm. Reiche (Lund, 1923) 97.

Vetare. To forbid, to prohibit. The term is used of legal enactments (statutes, imperial constitutions) which forbade a transaction or act (lex vetat), of magistrates who issued a prohibitive order, or of private persons (a principal, a master, a father) who within the framework of their authority forbade per­sons depending upon them to do something. For the formula vim fieri veto (or a simple veto), see INTERDICTA PROHIBITORIA, VIM FIERI VETO.—See IUDICARE VETARE.

Veteranum mancipium. See novicius.

Veteranus. A soldier who completed his years of service and was honorably discharged. According to an enactment of Augustus, a legionnaire was dis­charged after twenty years of service. The veterani were united in an elite detachment which had its own standard, vexillum; hence the unit was called vexilla­tio veteranorum. It could be called to service in the event of emergency; see evocati. The veterans enjoyed various privileges among which the most important was exemption from compulsory personal services to the state (munera) ; they were, however, not exempt from charges which were imposed on real property (munera patrimonii) and they paid taxes. In penal law certain more humiliating penalties (such as flogging, castigatio fustibus, forced labor in mines or public works) were not applicable to veterans. Generally they were not compelled to assume a guardianship or curatorship except when the ward was a child of a soldier or of a veteran. Veterans were permitted to have their own associations, col­legia veteranorum. Syn. vetus miles.—D. 38.12; 49.18; C. 5.65; 12.46.—See peculium castrense, MISSIO, EMERITUS, EXCUSATIONES A MUNERIBUS.

Mispoulet, DS 5; Waltzing, DE 2, 350, 368; Schehl, Das Edict Diocletians über die Immunitäten der Veteranen, Aeg 13 (1933) 137.

Veterator. See novicius.

Veteres. The ancestors. With regard to earlier jurists, the term is used of jurists who lived in more or less remote times. In postclassical and Justinian sources the term refers to the classical jurists without dis­tinction as to whether they lived in the Republic or the early or late Principate.—See antique

Vetus consuetudo. See consuetudo. Syn. veteribus moris fuit (= the ancients used to).

Vetus ius. Ancient law, the law of past times, an old legal principle. The term may refer to a legal tiorm which originating in earlier times was still in force or to an earlier legal norm which was amended by later law. Imitatio veteris iuris = a new law which followed the pattern of former law.—See ius an­tiquum.

Vetustas. Ancient times in Justinian’s constitutions, e.g., iura vetustatis. Syn. antiquitas. In the language of the jurists vetustas is used of situations of very long duration which were considered as legal if there was no evidence to the contrary. The rule that “vetustas is considered as a law” (pro lege habetur, D. 39.3.2 pr.) was of particular importance in rela­tions between neighbors when the owner of land from time immemorial had certain profits from a neighbor’s property (e.g., use of water). In another sense, vetustas indicates the bad state of a building (e.g., dilapidation) which required repair because of its “old age.” The owner was bound to repair the defects for the benefit of the tenants.

Vetustiores. Ancestors.

Vetustus. Ancient, old. Vetustum (vetustissimum) ius, vetustae leges = the ancient law (laws).

Vexare. To molest, to harass (vexare adversarium litibus = to harass one’s adversary with lawsuits). —See CALUMNIA.

Vexillarius. The soldier who bore the standard or a soldier of a military detachment (see vexillatio).

Vexillatio. (From vexillum = a military banner.) A military detachment. The term applies to infantry units, cavalry squadrons, auxiliary troops and ma­rines, even to smaller units to which a special military task was assigned. Sometimes vexillum is used in the sense of vexillatio. For vexillatio veteranorum, see veteranus. In the later Empire, military units serving in the imperial palace (vexillationes palatinae.

Cagnat, DS 5; Liebenam, RE 6, 1606; M. Mayer, Vexil­lum and vexillarius (Diss. Strassburg, 1910).

Vi bona rapta. Goods taken away from the owner (or possessor) by force.—See RAPINA.

Via. A rustic servitude (see servitutes praediorum rusticorum) which entitled the owner of a land to use a road on his neighbor’s land for driving in a carriage or riding on horseback. The servitus viae automatically implied the right to walk and pass through (see iter) as well as to drive draught ani­mals and vehicles (see actus) through the other’s property.

Severini, NDI 12, 2; Arangio-Ruiz, St Brugi (.1910) 247; Aru, StCagl 24 (1936) 405; Biondi, St Besta 1.(1939) 267; Solazzi, SDH I 17 (1951) 257.

Viae. Roads. A distinction was made between pri­vate and public roads. Private roads (viae privatae, called also agrariae) were the roads which led through private land. Use could be granted by the owner to private individuals or to groups of neighbors, in an unlimited or limited measure (see via, iter, actus). Public roads (viae publicae) were open to the use of the people. They are also called viae consulares or viae praetoriae when their construction was ordered by a consul or praetor. Several Republican statutes dealt with the construction and maintenance of public roads. Construction was in the hands of the higher magistrates and the censors, the administration and supervision was assigned to the aediles, later (under the Principate) to special curatores viarum. In the later Empire, the owners of bordering property were generally bound to maintain the roads running along their property (Cod. Theod. 15.3). Erection of monuments on public roads was prohibited. The use of viae publicae by the population was under inter- dictal protection; see interdictum de viis publicis. —D. 43.8; 10; 11.—See quattuorviri viis in urbe PURGANDIS, DUOVIRI VIIS EXTRA URBEM PURGANDIS.

Chapot, DS 5; Voigt, Rom. System der Wege, BerSachGW 1872.

Viae consulares, praetoriae. See viae.

Viae militares. Roads built for military purposes. Viae vicinales. Roads which are in, or lead to, vil­lages. They were generally public if they served for traffic to, and from, the village even when main­tained by the owners of the adjacent lands.

Viasii vicani. Beneficiaries of public land (ager pub- licus) to whom plots situated alongside a public road were assigned. They were bound to maintain the corresponding sections of the road.

Grenier, DS 5, 857.

Viaticum, Travel expenses. A plaintiff who incon­siderately (tentere) summoned another to court had to reimburse him for the expenses connected with his appearance before the magistrate. Expenses also had to be paid to a partner in a societas who made a journey in its interest. A small amount of money which exiled persons were permitted to take with them when going into exile, was also called viaticum. Finally, viaticum was the travel money given to am­bassadors sent on an official mission abroad.

Lecrivain, DS 5.

Viatores. Subordinate officials, assigned to the office of a high magistrate or of a plebeian tribune, who carried out orders of their superiors, summoned or arrested persons and brought them to court, trans­mitted messages to senators or other magistrates, intervened in the convocation of the senate, and the like. They belonged to the lower official personnel (see APPARITORES).—See LEX CORNELIA DE VIGINTI QUAESTORIBUS.

Lengle, RE 6A, 2488; Lecrivain, DS 5.

Vicanus. An inhabitant of a village (vicus).—C. 11.57.—See viasii.

Vicarianus. (Or vicarius, adj.) Connected with, or pertinent to, a vicarius, the governor of a dioecesis (in the later Empire).

Vicarius. One who acts in another’s place as his substitute. Syn. vice agens.—See vice.

Vicarius. In public law, the chief of the administra­tion (governor) of a dioecesis in the later Empire. They were purely civil officials also charged with the administration of justice.—C. 1.38.

Ucrivain, DS 5; De Villa, NDI 12, 2.

Vicarius in urbe (Roma). Following Diocletian’s reform of the administration, the vicarius residing in Rome was the head of the administration of the southern part of the dioecesis Italia (the so-called suburbicariae regiones and the islands) except for the district subject to the praefectus urbi. Under Constantine he assumed the functions of the former vicarius praefecturae urbis and had from that time the title of vicarius urbis Romae.

Komemann, RE S, 731; F. M. De Robertis, La repressions penale nella circoscrizione dell’urbe (1937) 43; idem, Studi di diritto penale rom. (1943) 43.

Vicarius Italiae. The chief of the administration of the northern part of the dioecesis Italia (the districts north of the Apennines) after Diocletian’s reform of the administration. His residence was in Milan. —See VICARIUS IN URBE.

Kornemann, RE 5, 731.

Vicarius iudex. In the later Empire, a judge (juris­dictional official) acting in the place of the iudex ordinarius. Since the latter title was used for pro­vincial governors, the vicarius was in fact the substi­tute of the governor. In the first two centuries of the Principate the title vicarius was already being used for officials who substituted for provincial gov­ernors in their absence or upon their death.

Vicarius praefecti praetorio. A permanent deputy of the praefectus praetorio after Diocletian’s reform of administration. One was appointed by the emperor in each dioecesis of the Empire.

Lecrivain, DS 5, 821; Cuq, NRHD 23 (1899) 393.

Vicarius praefecturae urbis. A deputy of the prae­fectus ur,bi. The office was abolished by Constantine and its functions transferred to the vicarius in urbe.

Ensslin, Byzantinische Zeitschrift 36 (1936) 320.

Vicarius servus. See servus vicarius.

Vicarius urbis Romae. See vicarius in urbe.

Vice. Added to the title of a high administrative official (e.g., vice praesidis, legati, proconsulis) this indicates an official (a procurator) in the provinces who temporarily assumed the functions of an absent or dead governor. Syn. agens vices {partes) prae­sidis, partibus praesidis fungi. Vice alicuius fungi — to act in place of another. Vice alicuius rei (e.g., testamenti, legati, pignoris) = to be considered as being in the place of (a testament, a legacy, a pledge). —See the following items.

Vice (or vices agens) praefecti praetorio. The deputy praefectus praetorio appointed (from the time of Diocletian) by the emperor. Appeals from his judi­cial decisions went directly to the emperor and not to the praefectus praetorio.—See vicarius praefecti praetorio.

De Ruggiero, DE 1, 354; Cantarelli, Bull. Comm. Archcol. Comunale di Roma, 1890, 28; Cuq, NRHD 23 (1899) 393;

A. Stein, Hermes 60 (1925) 97.

Vice sacra. (Acting) in place of the emperor. The praefecti praetorio in the praefecturae of the Empire and the praefectus urbi in Rome (after Diocletian’s reform of the administration) were considered as acting vice sacra.—See iudicans vice sacra.

Vicem legis obtinere. See legis vicem obtinere. Vices (vicem, vice) agens. A deputy official in pro­vincial and military administration.

De Ruggiero, DE 1, 353.

Vicesima hereditatium. A five per cent inheritance tax paid by Roman citizens on testamentary and intes­tate successions worth 200,000( ?) sesterces or more. It was introduced by Augustus. Responsibility for collecting the vicesima hereditatium was in the hands of special officers, procuratores hereditatium.—C. 6.33. —See APERTURA TESTAMENTI, LEX IULIA ( ?) DE VICESIMA HEREDITATIUM, STATIO VICESIMAE, MISSIO IN POSSESSIONEM EX EDICTIO HADRIANI, EDICTUM HADRIANI.

Cagnat, DS 5; Severini, NDI 12, 2 (s.v. vigesima); De Ruggiero, DE 3, 726; Catinell, StDocSD 6 (1885 ) 273, 7 (J886) 33; Bonelli, ibid. 21 (1900) 288; E. Guillaud, Étude sur la v. h. (These Paris, 1895) ; Stella-Maranca, RendLinc 33 (1924) 263; Acta Divi Augusti 1 (Rome, 1945) 219; De Laet, AntCl 16 (1947) 29; Gilliam, AmJPhilol 73 (1952) 397.

Vicesima libertatis. See vicesima manumissionum. Vicesima manumissionum. A manumission tax of five per cent of the slave’s value, paid by the master if freedom was granted by him, but paid by the slave if he redeemed himself by his own money; see re­demptus suis nummis. Syn. vicesima libertatis, aurum vicesimarium.

Lécrivain, DS 3, 1220; Humbert, DS 1 (s.v. aurum vicesi­marium) ; Bonelli, StDocSD 21 (1900) 52; Wlassak, ZSS 28 (1907) 89; L. Clerici, Economia e finanza dei Romani 1 (1943) 505.

Vicinus. A neighbor. In relations between neighbors, owners of land, praedial servitudes were of great importance (see servitutes praediorum rustico- rum, SERVITUTES PRAEDIORUM URBANORUM) inas­much as they determined the extent to which one neighbor might use the property of the other. Con­troversies between neighbors arose for various rea­sons involving actual or threatened violation of the rights of one by the other.—See cautio dam ni INFECTI, OPERIS NOVI NUNTIATIO, ACTIO AQUAE PLU­VIAE ARCENDAE, PARIES COMMUNIS, TIGNUM IUNC- TUM, ACTIO FINIUM REGUNDORUM, CONTROVERSIA DE­FINE, IMMISSIO, INTERDICTA.

P. Bonfante, Scr giuridici 2 (1926) 783; S. Solazzi, Requi­siti e modi di costituzione delle servitù prediali (1947 ) 29.

Vicomagistri. See regiones urbis romae.

Grenier, DS 5.

Victor. Used of the successful party in a lawsuit. Syn. victrix pars. Similarly, victoria may refer to a victory in court.

Victus. Nourishment, all that is necessary for living (ad victum necessaria, ad vivendum homini neces­saria), hence not only the necessary food, drink, and clothing, but also “anything else which we use for the protection and the care of our body” (D. 50.16.44). This interpretation of the term was im­portant in cases when one was obligated to take care of a person (e.g., a father, a guardian) or to furnish victus to another (e.g., as a legacy or under another title).

Vicus. A settlement, a village, a territorial unit, smaller than a municipium or an oppidum, occupied by a group of families forming a rural community. In larger cities vicus indicated a street, a block of buildings.—See PAGUS, REGIONES URBIS ROMAE.

Schulten, RE 4, 799; Grenier, DS 5; Anon., ND! 12, 2; F. De Zulueta, De patrociniis vicorum (Oxford, 1909).

Videbimus. We shall examine. The jurists used this word to stress a point to which they wanted to devote particular attention or an important problem that arose from a case under discussion. Similar locutions are videamus (= let us see whether), videndum est (= it is to be examined).

Videtur (alicui). A favorite term of the jurists to introduce their own (“mihi videtur” = it seems to me) or another jurist’s (e.g., “luliano videtur”) opin­ion. In reporting a judge’s decision expressions like videbatur, visum est, are used.

Vidua. A widow or a woman who has never been married. Viduitas = widowhood.—C. 3.14; 6.40; 9.13. See LUCTUS, SECUNDAE NUPTIAE, TUTELA

MULIERUM, RAPTUS.

L. Caes, Le statut juridique de la sponsalicia largitas Ă©chue à la mère veuve, Courtrai, 1949.

Vigiles. The fire brigade of Rome. Augustus created seven divisions (cohortes) of firemen, totaling seven thousand men. Each cohors had seyen centuriae under the command of tribunes. The commander of all the vigiles was the praefectus vigilum. One cohors was assigned to two districts of Rome (see regiones urbis Romae. The vigiles also exercised police functions, chiefly at night time.—D. 1.15; C. 1.45. See LEX VISELLIA.

Cagnat, DS 5; Balsdon, OCD; De Magistris, La militia vigilum nella Roma imperiale (1898) ; P. K. Baillie Rey­nolds, The v, of imperial Rome (1926) ; G. Mancini, I vi­gili dell'antica Roma (1939).

Vigintiviri. See VIGINTISEXVIRI.

LĂ©crivain, DS 5.

Vigintisexviri. A collective term embracing 26 minor magistrates in the Republic with different functions. Among them were: the decemviri stlitibus iudi- CANDIS, TRESVIRI CAPITALES, (previously Called treS~ viri nocturni), the tresviri monetales, the quattuor­viri viis in urbe purgandis) (four officials who had to keep the streets of Rome clean), the duoviri viis extra urbem purgandis (who had similar duties with regard to the roads around the capital), and the quattuorviri praefecti Capuam, Cumas (who acted as representatives of the praetorian jurisdiction in the region of Campania). The latter six magistracies (the duoviri and the quattuorviri praefecti) were abolished by Augustus, henceforth the remaining twenty magistrates were collectively called vinginti- viri.

Vilicus (villicus). The administrator of a country estate (villa), normally a slave who supervised all the personnel (slaves, see familia rustica).

Lafaye, DS 5.

Villa. A country estate, a country house. Villa urbana = the residential part of a country establishment; villa rustica = farm buildings, quarters for slaves working in the agricultural part of the estate.—See AGER.

Villicus. See VILICUS.

Vim fieri veto. “I forbid force to be used.” The so- called prohibitory interdicts (see interdicta prohi­bitoria) were provided with this clause by which the praetor forbade the defendant to hinder the plaintiff in the exercise of his right. Vis does not mean vio­lence (physical force) here; it indicates any activity of the defendant which might prevent the plaintiff from making use of a right to which he was entitled.

Berger, RE 9, 1613.

Vim vi repellere licet. Force may be repelled by force. “All statutes and all laws allow this” (D. 9.2.45.4). The principle admits self-defense by force against an aggressor. A well-known instance was self-defense against a thief (see fur, furtum) : the victim could kill a burglar at night, but in the day­time only if the thief defended himself with a weapon (telum).—See VINDICATIO.

Aru, ND! 12, 2, 1041; idem, La difesa privata, AnPal 15 (1936) 128; 381.

Vincire. To fetter.—See vinctus, vincula. Vinctus. Fettered. Ant. solutus = liberated from fetters. See VINCULA.

Wenger, ZSS 61 (1941) 655.

Vincula. Fetters. Fettering (vincire) was applied as a punishment of slaves by their masters. Fettering a free citizen was considered a crimen plagii (see plagium) and punished according to the lex fabia. It was permitted, however, as a means of coercion (see coercitio) or as an additional punishment in prison. Vincula are mentioned in the Twelve Tables (see lex duodecim tabularum) as a coercive meas­ure applied by a creditor against a debtor who did not fulfill a judgment debt. The law permitted shackling the debtor nervo aut compedibus (with fetters of iron or wood) but limited their weight to fifteen pounds. —See NEXUM.

Vollgraff, DS 5; Wenger, ZSS 61 (1941) 655.

Vincula publica. A public prison. Syn. carcer. Persons suspected of a crime were held in prison until the matter was cleared up. Incarceration was, however, not a punishment for a culprit condemned. Ant. vincula privata = fetters applied by private per­sons, see VINCULA.—See CUSTODIA REORUM.

Vinculum iuris. A legal tie (bond). The expression is used in the definition of obligatio.

Vinculum pignoris. The tie by which a pledge (pig­nus) is bound on behalf of the creditor. Vinculum pignoris is also the right of a ransomer over the prisoner of war whom he redeemed from the enemy; see REDEMPTUS AB HOSTE.

G. Faiveley, Redemptus ab hoste (These Paris, 1942) 112. Vindemia. The vintage season (tempus vindemiae, vindemiarum). · It was taken into consideration by the law in the same way as the harvest period (tempus messis vindemiaeve). During these seasons jurisdictional activity was exercised only in cases which might be lost to the plaintiff because of lapse of time (praescriptio, or usucapio on the part of the defendant) or when perishable things were invölved. —See ORATIO MARCI On IN IUS VOCATIO.

Vindex. For the vindex intervening for a person summoned to court, see in ius vocatio. The vindex guaranteed the appearance of the defendant at a fixed later date. Should the defendant fail to do so, the vindex was liable to the plaintiff and could be sued under the formulary procedure by a praetorian actio in factum. A vindex was acceptable to the magis­trate only if he was wealthy enough to guarantee the eventual payment.—A vindex (guarantor) was also permissible in the legis actio per manus iniectio- nem to save the defendant, who had been con­demned in a previous trial and did not pay the judgment debt, from being led off to the plaintiff’s house and put in fetters. The vindex had either to pay the judgment debt of the principal debtor at once or to defend him by denying that the manus in- iectio was justified. When defeated in the trial, the vindex had to pay the plaintiff double. Both kinds of vindices disappeared in later law. In Justinian’s legislation they were replaced by the fideiussor iudicio sistendi causa (qui aliquem iudicio sisti promiserit = one who promised to bring another to court).—D. 2.10.—See vadimonium, iudicatum, MANUS IN- IECTI0.

Cuq, DS 5; Severini, NDI 12, 2; F. Kleineidam, Die Per­sonalexekution der Zwölf Tafeln (1904) 146; Lend, ZSS 26 (1905) 232; Schlossmann, ibid. 308; G. Cicogna, V. e vadimonium (1911); N. Corodeanu, Sur la fonction du v. (Bucharest, 1919); Lend, Edictum perpetuum* (1927) 65; Düll, ZSS 54 (1934) 112; Leifer, Ztschr. für vergi. Rechts- wiss. 50 (1935) 5; L. Maillet, La theorie de Schuld et Haftung (These Aix-en-Provence, 1944) 84; Pugliese, RIDA 2 (1949) 251; Kaser, Das altröm. Ius (1949) 194; P. Noailles, Du droit sacre au droit civil (1950) 143.

Vindex civitatis. ' See defensor civitatis.

Vindicare (vindicatio). Eventually assumed a gen­eral meaning—beyond the domain of rei vindicatio —of laying claim to, asserting one’s right to.—See the following items.

Juncker, Geddchtnisschrift fiir E. Seckel (1927) 209; Dull, ZSS 54 (1934) 98; P. Noailles, Du droit sacre au droit civil (1950) 52.

Vindicare necem (mortem). To avenge the assas­sination of a man by an unknown murderer by prose­cuting all the slaves who lived with him in the same household.—See senatusconsultum silanianum, QUAESTIO PER TORMENTA, TECTUM.

Vindicatio (vindicare). In earlier times, the act of avenging an offense, self-defense against the violence of an aggressor. Later, the term was applied to the defense of one’s property by seeking its recovery in court. Gaius (Inst. 4.5) called all actiones in rem (see actiones in personam) vindicationes and Jus­tinian accepted his terminology (Inst. 4.6.15). See rei vindicatio. Vindicatio is also used for the prosecution of certain wrongdoings, such as adul­terium, or corruptio albi (see actio de albo cor­rupto). For other applications of the term, see the following items.—See legatum per vindicationem.

Vindicatio coloni (or in colonatum). In the later Empire, the claim of a landowner asserting that a certain person was his colonus.

Vindicatio familiae pecuniaeque. The earliest form Of HEREDITATIS PETITIO.

Vindicatio filii. The claim of the head of a family for the delivery of his son held by another. Analo­gous was the vindicatio of a wife being under the marital power (in manu) of her husband, by the latter since her legal situation was that of a daughter (filiae loco).—See interdictum de liberis exhi­bendis.

Vindicatio gregis. See grex.

Vindicatio hereditatis. See hereditatis petitio, vin­dicatio FAMILIAE PECUNIAEQUE.

Vindicatio in ingenuitatem. See the following item. Vindicatio in libertatem. An action in favor of a free person held by another as a slave. See adsertio, causa liberalis. A similar case was the vindicatio in ingenuitatem whereby one defended the status of another man as free-born; see ingenuitas. Ant. vindicatio in servitutem whereby the claimant as­serted that another man was his slave though gen­erally considered free.

Vindicatio in servitutem. See vindicatio in liber­tatem, VERGINIA.

Vindicatio pignoris. Often applied to the action of a creditor who claimed the recovery of a pledge from the debtor on the ground that his obligation had been discharged.—See hypotheca, actio quasi serviana.

Vindicatio servitutis. The action of a person against the owner of land on which the plaintiff claims a servitude. The action is also called actio confessoria. On the other hand, the landowner was protected against any one to whom he denied a servitude on his property by an action called actio negatoria or actio negativa. Similar was the use of an action termed actio prohibitoria (its origin is controversial) by which the landowner asserted his right to prevent another from exercising a servitude on his land.

Leonhard, RE 4, 871 (s.v. confessoria actio) ; V. Arangio- Ruiz, Rariora (1946, ex 1908) 1; G. Segrè, Mèi Girard 2 (1912) 511; Biondi, AnMes 3 (1929) 93; Buckland, LQR 46 (1930) 447; Bohacek, BIDR 44 (1937) 19, 46 (1939) 142; Solazzi, Tutela delle servitù prediali (1949) 1; Alba­nese, AnPal 21 (1950) 24; Grosso, St Albertario 1 (1951) 593.

Vindicatio tutelae. The claim for guardianship of a person who was entitled by law to be the guardian (tutor legitimus) of a near relative.—See tutela LEGITIMA.

Vindicatio ususfructus. Analogous to vindicatio ser­vitutis when a usufruct on another’s man property is claimed.—See vindicatio servitutis.

G. Grosso, I problemi dei diritti reali (1944) 132; Sciascia, BIDR 49-50 (1948) 471.

Vindicatio uxoris. See vindicatio filii.

Vindiciae. Possession of a thing which was the object of a judicial trial under the procedure of legis actio sacramento and which was assigned for possession (vindicias dicere) to one of the parties, normally to the actual possessor, by the jurisdictional magistrate. If this party lost the case (vindiciae falsae), he had to hand over the thing together with double the pro­ceeds he may have received from it in the meantime. In earlier Latin vindiciae (or vindicia) was the thing itself about which there was a controversy.—See PRAEDES LITIS ET VINDICIARUM, CAUTIO PRO PRAEDE LITIS ET VINDICIARUM.

Cuq, DS 5; E. Weiss, Fschr Peterka (Prague, 1929 ) 69.

Vindiciae falsae. Occurred if the party to a trial who received temporary possession of the thing in dispute from the praetor (see vindiciae) lost the case under the judgment. According to the Twelve Tables he had to restore to the adversary the thing itself and double the proceeds (fructus duplio). The assign­ment of possession by the praetor to the wrong party was termed vindicias falsas dicere.

E. Petot, Etudes Girard (1912) 229; Weiss, Fschr Peterka (Prague, 1929) 72; Ratti,- St Riccobono 2 (1936) 421; Levy, ZSS 54 (1934) 306; M. Kaser, Restituere als Prozessgegenstand (1932) 16; idem, Eigentum und Besitz (1943) 72.

Vindicias dicere. See vindiciae, vindiciae falsae. M. Kaser, Eigentum und Besitz, 1943, 76.

Vindicias dicere secundum libertatem. Occurred in a trial over the status of liberty (status libertatis) of a person, the praetor ordering that he be considered a free man until the final decision.—See causa libe­ralis, VINDICATIO IN LIBERTATEM, VINDICATIO IN SERVITUTEM, VERGINIA.

P. Noailles, Du droit sacre au droit civil (1950) 192; Van Oven, TR 18 (1950) 172.

Vindicta. A rod used for symbolic gestures in the enfranchisement, called manumissio vindicta, and in the legis actio Sacramento in rem in which the question of Quiritary ownership of a thing was examined. The controversial object was touched with a rod by the person asserting his ownership. Gaius (Inst. 4.16) identifies vindicta with festuca. According to a recent opinion, the term is derived from vim dicere (vis dicta), indicating the act by which the parties emphasized their power over the thing in dispute.—D. 40.2; C. 7.1.

Cuq, DS 5; Beseler, Hermes 77 (1942) 79; Μ. Kaser, Das altröm. lus (1949) 327 ; P. Noailles, lus et Fas (1948) 46 (-RHD 19-20 [1940-41] 1) ; P. Meylan, Mei F. Guisan (Lausanne, 1950) 29.

Vindicta. With regard to criminal offenses, vengeance, retribution, a penalty inflicted in return for an of­fense, criminal prosecution.

Vindius Verus. A little known jurist of the second century, member of the council of the emperor Antoninus Pius.

Kunkel, Herkunft und soziale Stellung der röm. Juristen 1952, 167.

Vinum. For crimes committed by intoxicated person (per vinum), see impetus. Drunkenness = ebrietai temulatio.

Violatio sepulcri. Violation, desecration, of a gravi Different offenses were punished as a crimen viola sepulcri, in the first place burglarizing a grave bi longing to another or opening one in order to bui a dead body therein. The wrongdoer could be sue for damages by the person who had the ius sepulc over the grave under the actio sepulcri viola' This was an actio popularis so that if the pers< interested in the first place did not accuse the culpi any Roman citizen could do so. Penalty for mir infractions was a fine of 100,000 sesterces and infan Major violations, such as taking.away a corpse robbery committed with the help of armed acco plices, were punished by death.

Pfaff, RE 2X, 1625; Gemer, RE 7K, 1742; LĂ©crivain, 4, 1208; Cuq, RHD 11 (1932) 109; E. Wesenberg, strafrechtliche Schutz der geheiligten Gegenstände (I Göttingen, 1912) 95; A. Parrot, MalĂ©diction et viole des tombes (1939); Arangio-Ruiz, FIR 3 (1943) no Violentia. Violence, use of physical force.—See Niedermeyer, St Bonfante 2 (1930) 281.

Vir bonus. An honest, upright man (a Roman zen). In certain contractual relations, particular! those governed by good faith (bona fides), the y ment (arbitrium) of a third impartial and he person was decisive whether a party had fulfillec obligation or not, e.g., the approval of a work by a contractor or an artisan (locatio cond operis). The moral qualifications of a vir I were honesty and righteousness.—See bonus i FAMILIAS, ARBITRIUM BONI VIRI.

T. Sinko, De Romanorum viro bono, Transactions prawy) of the Academy of Sciences in Cracow 36 251; v. Lübtow, ZSS 66 (1948) 520.

Vires. (Pl. of vis.) The financial strength (m of a person, an inheritance, or of a separate co of goods (a dowry, a peculium).—See facul'

Virga. A rod, a whip used for flogging.—See casti- GARE.

Virgo Vestalis. See vestales virgines.

Virilis. Befitting a man (not a woman); see officium virile ; a share in an intestate inheritance pertaining to one heir and equal to the shares of other heirs = pars virilis.—See portio hereditaria.

Viripotens. A marriageable woman.—See impubes.

Viritim. Personally, individually. Viritim donatus civitate Romana (in inscriptions) = a foreigner who was personally granted Roman citizenship. Viritim distribuere = to divide (e.g., an inheritance) among several persons in equal shares.—See virilis.

Virtus. Bravery, courage. Competition in athletic games was considered a contest in bravery (certamen in virtute).—See LEX CORNELIA DE ALEATORIBUS.

Vis. The power one has over a free person (vis ac potestas). With reference to legal enactments (vis legis), to contractual relations (vis stipulation's), or unilateral acts (vis testamenti) = validity, effective­ness. Hence vim (vires) habere = to be valid; vim (vires) accipere, optinere = to become legally valid. Ant. nullas vires habere.

Vis. Violence, force. The term occurs in both private and penal law, but it is defined differently for the two provinces. Whereas in the first the concept of vis is taken in a broader sense and even in different implications, for the penal law it is understood as a major infraction and qualified as crimen vis (crime of violence). In the law of obligations, vis (the use of physical force or moral compulsion by one person against another) might provoke fear (metus) in the latter. Hence the two elements “force and fear” (vis ac metus) are mentioned together in discussions of the influence of metus on legal transactions. The praetorian Edict dealt with vis not only in the section concerning duress (metus) but also with regard to possession when a person was dispossessed by force. In several provisions the praetor forbade the use of force to disturb existing possessory situations (see vim fieri veto), or he protected public works and institutions against any hindrance (“ne vis fiat”) which might impair their public use. Such actions were considered as vis, no matter whether real force was actually applied or not. See interdicta pro- HIBITORIA, INTERDICTUM QUOD VI AUT CLAM, INTER­DICTUM de vi. Thus arose the rule: “All that one has done when he was prohibited (from doing it) is considered to have been done with violence” (D. 50.17.73.2). Vis appears among the so-called vitia possessionis (legal defects of possession) inasmuch as possession acquired by force was qualified as pos­sess™ vitiosa (iniusta). See exceptio vitiosae pos­sessionis, INTERDICTUM UTI POSSIDETIS, RES VI POS- sessae. He who uses force to defend and retain his possession, when illegally attacked by another, is

[TRANS. AMER. PHIL. SOC. not regarded as possessing by force (vi). In the field of penal law, the distinction between vis pri- vata and vis publica is fundamental: “whatever is done by violence is either a crime of vis publica or of vis privata” (D. 50.17.152 pr.). The vis privata, force used against a private individual in order to commit robbery, was considered a private delict, like theft (furturn), and was prosecuted by a penal action (actio poenalis) of the person injured, the actio vi bonorum raptorum\ see rapina. The concept of vis publica, a crime committed with vio­lence and prosecuted by the state in a criminal trial (iudicium publicum), was first established in the lex plautia de vi (78-63 b.c. ?) and, later, by the com­prehensive legislation of Augustus, lex iulia de vi publica and lex iulia de vi privata. The distinc­tion which was neatly defined in this legislation was later distorted through imperial enactments and in Justinian’s compilation. The sources are frequently contradictory in the qualification of certain outrageous acts as vis publica or privata. The original distinc­tion may have been based on whether the crime vio­lated direct interests of the state (vis publica) or those of a private person (vis privata). “Many crim­inal offenses are covered by the term of violence” (C. 9.12.6); among the instances of vis publica are mentioned acts of violence committed in public with the assistance of armed bands in order to provoke a riot or sedition, disturbing a trial in court, a popular assembly during a vote or election, or the senate, exercising pressure on a judge, appearance in public with arms or armed bands to prepare an attack against temples or city gates, disturbing a funeral, etc. Various kinds of abuses committed by officials and major breaches of official duty were also punished as vis publica. Even in certain cases of vis privata (more atrocious assaults, the use of arms) public prosecution of the crime was possible in addition to the private penal action of the individual injured. Together with the extension of the instances of vis publica more severe punishment was inflicted in the later imperial legislation (deportation combined with confiscation of property became the normal penalty, and from the time of Constantine the death penalty was very frequent).—D. 4.2; 43.16; C. 2.19; 8.4; 5. For vis publica Inst. 4.2; D. 47.8; C. 9.33.—See uti suo iure, introire domum, vis arm ata, vi bona rapta, lex pompeia de vi, tumultum, turba, and the following items.

Lecrivain, DS 5; Berger, RE 9, 1614, 1663, 1677; Nieder- meyer, St Bonfante 2 (1930) 400; U. v. Liibtow, Der Edictstitel quod metus causa (1932) 101; C. Longo, BIDR 42 (1934) 99; Nardi, SDH I 2 (1936) 120; Castello, RISG 14 (1939) 279; M. David, Interdit quod vi aut clam (1947) 25. For vis publica: Mommsen, Rom. Strafrecht, 1899, 653; J. Coroi, La violence en droit crim. rom. (1915); Berger, Gottingische Gelehrte Anzeigen, 1917, 344; Costa, RendBol2 (1917/18) 23; Flore, St Bonfante 4 (1930) 335; Aru, AnPal 15 (1936) 163.

Vis armata. Violence committed with the use of arms (arma). By arms are understood not only all kinds of weapons (see telum) but also stones and clubs (fustis). The term vis armata occurs in connection with the dispossession of another from his property. If the aggressor was armed but did not make use of the arms, his assault was nevertheless considered as vis armata since his having arms alone produced fear* (terror armorum) in the person attacked.—D. 43.16. See INTERDICTUM DE VI.

Berger, RE 9, 1680.

Vis atrox. Violence committed in a particularly atro­cious manner.—See iniuria atrox.

Vis divina. See vis maior.

Vis ex conventu. Violence under agreement, a simu­lated violence used by one of the parties to a con­troversy about possession of an immovable after the pertinent interdict (e.g., uti possidetis) was issued. The interdict being only a provisory settlement of the case, it was necessary, in order to bring the contro­versy to an end, that one of the parties act against the order of the praetor vim fieri veto by dispossessing the actual possessor. Instead of using real force, this was accomplished by agreement of the parties through a violenceless, peaceful dispossession which made the post-interdictal procedure possible. See interdictum secundarium. The connection of the vis ex conventu (to which only Gaius, Inst. 4.170, alludes, without using the term itself) with an institution mentioned solely by Cicero (pro Caec. 7.20; 10.27; 11.32; 32.95; pro Tullio 8.20; vis ex conventu: Cic. pro Caec. 8.22), deductio quae moribus fit (putting one out [of possession] according to the customs), is not quite clear.

Berger, RE 9, 1696; Saleilles, NRHD 16 (1892) 32; Mit- teis, ZSS 23 (1902) 298; Chabrun, NRHD 32 (1908) 5; Costa, C icetone giureconsulto* 1 (1927) 125.

Vis fluminis. A great flow of water in a river, a flood. It is considered equal to an earthquake or storm as a fortuitus casus which excused a person from appearance in court at a fixed date.—See vis maior, casus.

Vis maior. Superior force, an accident which cannot be foreseen or averted because of “human infirmity” (D. 44.7.1.4), such as an earthquake (see terrae motus), a flood (see vis fluminis), a storm (see tempestas), incursion of an enemy, violent attack by robbers or pirates (not a simple theft) which,cannot be repulsed, and the like.—See receptum nautarum, CASUS, TUMULTUS.

De Medio, BIDR 20 (1908) 157; D. Behrens, Die vis tn. und das klassische Haftungssystem, Giessen (1936) ; G. I. Luzzatto, Caso fortuito e forza tnaggiore 1 (1938) ; Con- danari-Michler, Fschr Wenger 1 (1944) 236.

Vis privata, vis publica. See vis.

Vita. See IUS VITAE NECISQUE.

Vitellius. A little known jurist of the time of Augus­tus, contemporary with Labeo. The jurist Paul wrote a commentary on the work of Vitellius (ad Vitel­lium) ; it seems, however, that he did not use Vitel­lius’ writings directly, but Sabinus’ commentary ad Vitellium.

Berger, RE 10, 713; Kunkel, Herkunft und soziale Stellung der rotn. Juristen, 1952, 117.

Vites. Vines. Gaius used vines as an example to illustrate the necessity imposed by the Twelve Tables of applying the precise words of that legislation in the legis actiones. “If one sued another for having cut down his vines and used the word vites, he lost the claim because the Twelve Tables, on which his claim was based, spoke of �trees’ and therefore he had to refer to trees cut down in his claim” (Inst. 4.11).

Vitiari. To be legally defective, to have no legal effectiveness.

Hellmann, ZSS 23 (1902) 413.

Vitiose. Used of acts, transactions, possession, securi­ties, etc., which suffer from a legal defect (see vi­tium) and, consequently, are invalid. Ant. sine vitio.

Vitiosus. See vitiose. “What is defective (vitiosum) from the very beginning cannot become valid by a lapse of time” (D. 50.17.29).—See tractus tem­poris, POSSESSIO INIUSTA, VITIUM POSSESSIONIS.

Vitium. When referring to a legal act or transaction, a legal defect resulting from non-observance of the prescribed formalities or the legal inability of the acting person. Hence sine vitio = blameless, without any defect. Vitium is also used in the sense of a loss, damage (damnum), as, e.g., vitium facere, or of a fault (culpa).—See the following items.

Cuq, DS 5.

Vitium aedium. A defective and dangerous condition of a building or other construction (of a work done vitium operis). Syn. aedes vitiosae.—See damnum INFECTUM.

G. Branca, Danno temuto (1937) 105 and passitn.

Vitium animi. A mental (psychical) defect or dis­ease. Ant. vitium corporis (corporale) = a chronic physical defect (e.g., blindness, deafness). The dis­tinction is discussed in connection with the sale of slaves and the remedies granted by the aedilician Edict in the case of unvisible defects of slaves sold. —See ACTIONES AEDILICIAE, MORBUS, ERRO, SERVUS FUGITIVUS, REDHIBITIO, ACTIO QUANTI MINORIS.

H. Vincent, Le droit des ediles (1922) 43; R. Monier, La garantie contre les vices caches dans la vente romaine (1930).

Vitium corporis (corporale). See vitium animi.

Vitium operis. See vitium aedium. Vitium operis, when referring to a construction of a building, is distinguished from vitium soli = the bad condition of the soil on which the construction was built. If the building (construction, opus) collapsed because of a defect in the construction, the contractor was liable; if, however, this happened because of the bad state of the soil, the owner had to bear the loss.

Vitium possessionis. See possessio iniusta, excep­tio VITIOSAE POSSESSIONIS, CLAM.

Vitium rei. A legal “defect” in a thing which renders its acquisition through usucapio impossible (e.g., stolen things = res furtivae, things taken by violence = res vi possessae, things belonging to the fisc).

Vitium soli. See vitium operis.

Vitium verborum. A defect in a written or oral dec­laration, resulting from the use of words other than those prescribed by law.

Vivianus. A little known jurist of the first century after Christ, author of a commentary on the prae­torian and aedilician Edicts.

Vocare (vocatio). To summon a person to appear in court. A magistrate could summon a witness to testify, a guardian to render an account of his admin­istration of a ward’s property, an accused in a crimi­nal matter (vocare in crimen).

Cuq, DS 5.

Vocare ad hereditatem. To designate an heir. The term is used both of an intestate inheritance (lex vocat) and of the appointment of an heir by a testator in his will.

Vocari ad munus. To be called by an official order to render compulsory personal service or to assume a certain charge (munus) in the interest of the state. Vocatio. See evocatio.

Vocatio in ius. See in ius vocatio.

Vociferatio. See convicium.

Voconiana ratio. See lex voconia, ratio voconiana. Volcatius. An unknown jurist of the early first cen­tury b.c., a disciple of the renowned jurist Quintus Mucius Scaevola.

Kunkel, Herkunft und soziale Stellung der rom. Juristen, 1952, 20.

Volens. One who agrees, who gives his consent. “There is no injury done to a person who consents (in volentem)” (D. 47.10.1.5).—See fraudare.

Severino, NDI 12, 2, 1135.

Volgo. See VULGO. Volo. See VELLE.

Voluntaria iurisdictio. See iurisdictio contentiosa. Voluntarii. Voluntary soldiers organized in special units, cohortes voluntariorum.

Voluntarius heres. See heres voluntarius.

Voluntas. A wish, a desire, a will, an intention. Voluntas as an element of one’s action in the legal field acquires importance in the legal life of a social group and of an individual when it is expressed orally or in writing or is manifested in some o_tther manner in a clear, unambiguous way, either in a unilateral act (a testament) or in a contract. The manifestation of will is taken into consideration as valid only if the person involved is able to express his will. Infants and lunatics (see furiosus) were considered not to have a will at all. The will of a person, appropriately expressed, produced legal ef­fects only if it was free, i.e., not produced by error (see error), fraud (see dolus) or by violence (see vis, metus). Except for cases for which the law prescribed a specific form (words, witnesses, writing) the formless manifestation of will could be expressed orally (verbis), in writing (in scriptis, scriptura), by signs (see nutus) or by acting in a way which did not admit of any doubt about the person’s will (tacite, see silentium). Hence the distinction between a voluntas factually expressed in one way or another and the voluntas the person really had. “There is a difference between a will which was expressed (vo­luntas expressa) and one which really exists” (D. 45.1.138.1). “If there is no ambiguity in the words used, a query about the will (voluntas) should not be admitted” (D. 32.25.1). Doubts arise when one’s voluntas was expressed in obscure, ambiguous words, written or spoken. “In an ambiguous (equivocal) saying we do not say both one and another thing, but only that one we want to say; but he who says anything other than what he wished, neither says what the words (vox) signify because he does not want it, nor what he wants because he did not say it” (D. 34.5.3). In the earlier law a contrast between voluntas and its expression through verba or scripta was not taken into consideration. In a formalistic legal system, only what had been expressly said had legal value. But already at the end of the Republic a contradiction between voluntas and verba became a problem which did not escape the jurists’ interest. The remark in Quintilian (Inst. orat. 7.6.1) “the jurists very frequently raise the question of written words and intention (voluntas) and a major part of controversial law (ius contr over sum) depends upon it,” was not a fantasy of the famous rhetorician, who expressly states (7.5.6) that his saying refers not only to statutes but “also to testaments, agreements, stipulations and any written documents, and to oral declarations as well.” The once widely diffused doc­trine in the Romanistic literature to the effect that expressions like animus, affectio, mens, voluntas, con­cerned with the individual will of a person, as well as decisions based on taking it into consideration, are suspect in the writings of classical jurists, may now be considered exaggerated and misleading. The rules set by Papinian, “It has been held that in agreements between contracting parties the will should be rather taken into consideration than the words” (D. 50.16. 219), and with regard to testaments, “in conditions settled in a testament the will (sc. of the testator) should be considered (considerari) rather than the words” (D. 35.1.101 pr.) doubtless reflect the opinion prevailing in his time in favor of the element of volition. In Justinian’s law voluntas reached its climax in the whole legal system as a decisive element in the evaluation of the validity, and in the interpre­tation, of manifestations of will.—Voluntas sometimes means consent, approval (voluntatem dare). For voluntas of persons committing crimes or illicit acts (= evil intention), see DOLUS MALUS, ANIMUS, CONA­TUS, consilium, intentio.—See, moreover, verba, NUDA VOLUNTAS, ANIMUS, MENS, AFFECTIO, SILEN­TIUM, simulatio, iocus, interpretatio, and the fol­lowing items.

Guarneri-Citati, Indice* (1927) 91; idem, St Riccobono A (1936) 743; idem, Fschr Koschaker 1 (1939) 156 (for interpolations).—Donatuti, BIDR 34 (1925) 185; Soko-. lowski, Mel Cornil 2 (1926) 425; Brasiello, StUrb 3 (1929) 103; Levy, ZSS 48 (1928) 74; Jolowicz, LQR 48 (1932) 180; Albertario, Se Bonfante 1 (1930) 645 (= Studi 5, 1937, 112); Himmelschein, Sy mb Frib Lenel (1931) 373; Pringsheim, LQR 49 (1933) 43, 379; Grosso, St Ric- cobono 3 (1936) 163; Riccobono, Mèi Cornil 2 (1926) 357; idem, ACDR Roma 1 (1934) 177; idem, BIDR 53/4 (1948) 356; idem, Scr Ferrini 4 (Univ. Sacro Cuore, Milan, 1949) 55; idem, Fschr Schulz 1 (1951) 302; Dulckeit, ibid. 158; Flume, ibid. 210.

Voluntas contrahentium. See voluntas.

E. Costa, Papiniano 4 (1898).

Voluntas defuncti. The wish of the deceased ex­pressed in his testament.—See voluntas, voluntas TESTANTIS, MENS TESTANTIS.

Voluntas legis. The intention of a statute.—See mens legis, ratio legis, sententia legis.

Voluntas postrema. A testament. Syn. voluntas suprema, ultima.

Voluntas sceleris. The intention to commit a crime. Syn. voluntas maleficii.—See voluntas, cogitatio, conatus.

Voluntas test antis. The wish of a testator expressed in his last will. Syn. voluntas dejuncti. See volun­tas. Very frequently the jurists stress that the deci­sion in a specific case concerned with a testamentary disposition depends upon the inquiry into the testa­tor’s wish (quaestio voluntatis).

E. Costa, Papiniano 3 (1896) ; A. Suman, Favor testamenti e v. testantium, 1916; idem, La ricerca della v. t., Fil 1917; Donatuti, BIDR 34 (1925) 185; G. Dulckeit, Erblasser­wille und Erwerbswille; 1934; idem, Fschr Koschaker 2 (1939) 316; Grosso, St Riccobono 3 (1936) 155; C. A. Maschi, St sull’interpretazione dei legati. Verba e volun­tas (1938) ; idem, Scr Ferrini 1 (Univ. Sacro Cuore, Milan, 1947) 317; Koschaker, ConfCast (1940) 106. '

Voluptariae impensae. See impensae voluptariae. Volusius. See maecianus.

Vota. (In the later Empire.) Gifts offered to the emperor on New Year’s Day. Vota pro salute im­peratoris (from the time of Augustus) = vows on the occasion of prayers for the health of the emperor and his family.

Vota matrimonii (nuptiarum). In later imperial con­stitutions, syn. with nuptiae.

Votum. (From vovere.) A solemn vow (promise) made in favor of a divinity. A votum was not suable under the law, but the promisor (and after his death, his heir) was obligated to the divinity (numini obligatus) under sacral law. It is doubtful whether the priests of the divinity had any action against the promisor.

Toutain, DS 5; Ferrini, NDI 12, 2, 932; Eitrem, OCD-, Brini, RendBol 1908; Wissowa, Religion und Kultus der Romei* (1912 ) 380.

Vox. A spoken word, an oral declaration.—See vo­luntas.

Vulgare. To make public officially (e.g., an imperial rescript). The term is found in the language of the imperial chancery.

Vulgaris. Common, commonly used. The term also refers to actions (vulgaris formula, actio, vulgare iudicium) but has no technical meaning. It indicates an ordinary action as opposed to those granted ex­ceptionally in specific circumstances (as actiones utiles, actiones in jactum).

Vulgaris cretio. See cretio. Vulgaris mulier. See meretrix.

Vulgaris substitutio. See substitutio.

Vulgata. (5c. littera.) Manuscripts of the Digest of the eleventh and following centuries. They are. also called Littera Bononiensis because they were used in the University of Bologna.

Kantorowicz, Die Entstehung der Digesten-Vulgata, ZSS 30 (1909) 183, 31 (1910) 14; P. Kretschmar, ZSS 48 (1928) 88; idem, Mittelalterliche Zahlensymbolik und die Entstehung der Digesten-Vulgata (1930) ; idem, ZSS 58 (1938) 202; Mor, CentCodPav (1924) 559.

Vulgo. Generally, commonly. It is used of legal rules and sayings generally recognized (vulgo dicitur, re­ceptum est, respondetur).

Vulgo conceptus (or quaesitus). A child born out of wedlock, neither in a legitimate marriage nor in a concubinage (see concubinatus) or contuber­nium, the offspring of a promiscuous intercourse. Such a child had no father, since the latter was un­known. The mother was bound to maintain the child who was admitted to her intestate inheritance.