''Numerius Negidius'' is a name used in Roman jurisprudence to refer to the

defendant In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case. Terminology varies from one juris ...

in a hypothetical

lawsuit A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today ...

. It based on a play on words: '' Numerius'' is a Roman

praenomen The praenomen (; plural: praenomina) was a first name chosen by the parents of a Ancient Rome, Roman child. It was first bestowed on the ''dies lustricus'' (day of lustration), the eighth day after the birth of a girl, or the ninth day after the ...

, or forename, resembling the verb ', "I pay"; while ''Negidius'' has the form of a

gentile name A demonym (; ) or 'gentilic' () is a word that identifies a group of people ( inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place (hamlet, village, town, city, region, pro ...

formed from the verb ', "I refuse". Thus, ''Numerius Negidius'' is a personal name that can also be interpreted to mean "he who refuses to pay". The

plaintiff A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the ...

would be referred to as ''Aulus Agerius''. '' Aulus'' is also a praenomen, while ''Agerius'' suggests the Latin verb ', "I set in motion", as it is the plaintiff who initiates a lawsuit. One well-known legal formula, a model instruction to the judge in a civil lawsuit, began as follows: ''si paret Numerium Negidium Aulo Agerio sestertium decem milia dare oportere'', meaning, "if it appears that Numerius Negidius ought to pay Aulus Agerius ten thousand

sesterces The ''sestertius'' (: ''sestertii'') or sesterce (: sesterces) was an ancient Roman coin. During the Roman Republic it was a small, silver coin issued only on rare occasions. During the Roman Empire it was a large brass coin. The name ''sester ...

..." In actual use, the names and amounts would be changed to the appropriate values. This formula appears several times in Book IV of

Gaius Gaius, sometimes spelled Caius, was a common Latin praenomen; see Gaius (praenomen). People * Gaius (biblical figure) (1st century AD) *Gaius (jurist) (), Roman jurist * Gaius Acilius * Gaius Antonius * Gaius Antonius Hybrida * Gaius Asinius Gal ...

' ''Institutiones'' (). The initials N. N. can also stand for "name unknown" (''

nomen nescio ''Nomen nescio'' (), abbreviated to ''N.N.'', is used to signify an anonymous or unnamed person. From Latin – "name", and – "I do not know", it literally means "I do not know the name". The generic name Numerius Negidius used in Roman tim ...

''), a

placeholder name Placeholder names are intentionally overly generic and ambiguous terms referring to things, places, or people, the names of which or of whom do not actually exist; are temporarily forgotten, or are unimportant; or in order to avoid stigmat ...

roughly equivalent to John or Jane Doe, Thomas Atkins, etc.

Notes

References

* Roman law Placeholder names {{AncientRome-law-stub de:Nomen nominandum#Begriffsursprung und -geschichte