Roman law Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (), to the (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I. Roman law also den ...

, the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

adjective An adjective (abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a word that describes or defines a noun or noun phrase. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives are considered one of the main part of speech, parts of ...

makes a legal distinction between that which is "private" and that which is , "public" in the sense of pertaining to the

Roman people The Roman people was the ethnicity and the body of Roman citizens (; ) during the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic, and the Roman Empire. This concept underwent considerable changes throughout the long history of the Roman civilisation, as i ...

(). Used as a

substantive In grammar, a noun is a word that represents a concrete or abstract thing, like living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, and ideas. A noun may serve as an object or subject within a phrase, clause, or sentence.Example ...

, the term refers to a

citizen Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationality ...

who is not a

public official An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless of 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 the ...

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. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

. Increasingly throughout the Middle and Late Republic, the ''privatus'' was nevertheless sometimes granted ''

imperium In ancient Rome, ''imperium'' was a form of authority held by a citizen to control a military or governmental entity. It is distinct from '' auctoritas'' and '' potestas'', different and generally inferior types of power in the Roman Republic a ...

'' 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 Capacity (law), legal entities. Private property is distinguishable from public property, which is owned by a state entity, and from Collective ownership ...

, or "things belonging to individuals," in contrast to ''

res publica ', also spelled ''rēs pūblica'' to indicate vowel length, is a Latin phrase, loosely meaning "public affair". It is the root of the ''republic'', and '' commonwealth'' has traditionally been used as a synonym for it; however, translations var ...

e''. * ''Res privata Caesaris'', the property of the

emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

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

ager publicus The ''ager publicus'' (; ) is the Latin name for the state 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, the ''ager pub ...

''. * ''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 Party (law), parties to a :wikt:dispute, dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence (law), evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to Adjudication, adjudicate claims or di ...

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 (finance), collateral if he defaulted on his loan. Details as to the contract are obscure and some modern scholars dispute its existence. I ...

''). The emperors

Zeno Zeno may refer to: People * Zeno (name), including a list of people and characters with the given name * Zeno (surname) Philosophers * Zeno of Elea (), philosopher, follower of Parmenides, known for his paradoxes * Zeno of Citium (333 – 264 B ...

and

Justinian Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...

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 adjudicators which is convened and sits to resolve a dispute by way of arbitration. The tribunal may consist of ...

or lay judge who conducted a

civil case 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. T ...

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 ...

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 disch ...

. 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