Roman law Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the '' Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor Just ...

, the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

adjective In linguistics, an adjective ( abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the ma ...

''privatus'' makes a legal distinction between that which is "private" and that which is ''publicus'', "public" in the sense of pertaining to the Roman people (''populus Romanus''). Used as a

substantive A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for: * Living creatures (including people, alive, ...

, the term ''privatus'' refers to a

citizen Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

who is not a

public official An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their su ...

or a member of the

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distin ...

. Increasingly throughout the Middle and Late Republic, the ''privatus'' was nevertheless sometimes granted '' imperium'' during a crisis; the definition of crisis was elastic, and the amassing of power by unelected individuals (''privati'') contributed to the breakdown of the checks and balances of the republican system.

Legal terms

* ''Res privatae'',

private property Private property is a legal designation for the ownership of property by non-governmental legal entities. Private property is distinguishable from public property and personal property, which is owned by a state entity, and from collective or c ...

, or "things belonging to individuals," in contrast to '' res publicae''. * ''Res privata Caesaris'', the property of the

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (emp ...

that was purely private. * ''Ager privatus'', privately owned land as distinguished from ''

ager publicus The ''ager publicus'' (; "public land") is the Latin name for the public land of Ancient Rome. It was usually acquired via the means of expropriation from enemies of Rome. History In the earliest periods of Roman expansion in central Italy, th ...

''. * ''Actiones privatae'', actions protecting an individual's private interests; similar to ''iudicia privata'', referring to

civil trial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, ...

s presided over by the ''iudex privatus'' (below). * ''Iter privatum'', a private road. * ''Carcer privatus'', a private prison. This form of incarceration was used for slaves, and in early time for debtors who failed to pay their creditors (see ''

nexum ''Nexum'' was a debt bondage contract in the early Roman Republic. A debtor pledged his person as collateral if he defaulted on his loan. Details as to the contract are obscure and some modern scholars dispute its existence. It was allegedly abolis ...

''). The emperors Zeno and

Justinian Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized '' renov ...

prohibited private prisons.

Iudex privatus

The ''iudex privatus'' was a

sole arbitrator An arbitral tribunal or arbitration tribunal, also arbitration commission, arbitration committee or arbitration council is a panel of unbiased adjudicators which is convened and sits to resolve a dispute by way of arbitration. The tribunal may co ...

or lay judge who conducted a

civil case - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil acti ...

to which the

parties A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature fo ...

had consented and who usually nominated him. In the event that the parties could not agree on a judge, he was chosen from an official list of potential judges drawn up by the

praetor Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected ''magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge vario ...

. He was also called a ''iudex unus''.George Mousourakis, ''The Historical and Institutional Context of Roman Law'' (Ashgate, 2003), p. 12
online.
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References

{{Italic title Roman law

Legal terms

Iudex privatus

See also

References