The legis actio procedure

The legis actio was the main system of civil procedure during the archaic period. Under this system the relevant forms of procedure in an action at law {legis actiones) were regarded as being based on the letter of the law and therefore as being incapable of variation.^[428] However, some of the legis actiones appear to have emerged from custom,^[429] [430] as their origins can be traced to the period before the introduction of the Law of the Twelve Tables.

The legis actio procedure was divided into two distinct stages: the first stage (in iure) was conducted before a consul (or a pontiff, according to some scholars) and, after the passing of the leges Liciniae Sextiae (367 BC), before the praetor; the second stage (in iudicio, apud iudicem) took place before a citizen who had been appointed as judge (index) by the magistrate with the consent of the parties concerned. At the opening stage of the in iure phase of the proceedings both parties had to appear before the magistrate. If the defendant refused to do so the plaintiff could bring him before the magistrate by force, unless the defendant could produce a guarantor (v index) who would give assurance that the defendant would appear in court at a fixed later date.^[431] At this stage of the proceedings the defendant had three options: (a) he could acknowledge the plaintiffs claim (confessio in iure), thus avoiding later condemnation or, (b) he could remain silent, putting forward no defence, in which case he was regarded as having confessed or, (c) he could deny the plaintiffs claim, in which case the procedure in iure continued according to the applicable legis actio - the form of action that had to be employed by the claimant.^[432]