INSTITUTIONUM, SEU ELEMENTORUM, D. JUSTINIANI LIBER PRIMUS. TITULUS PRIMUS. DE JUSTITIA ET JURE. D. 1. T. 1. Definitio justitiæ. JUSTITIA est constans et per Justice is the constant and perpetua voluntas jus suum cuique tri-petual disposition to render every Videmus enim, cætera quoque animalia istius juris peritia censeri. animals are considered as having Distinctio juris gentium et civilis, a definitione et etymologià. I. Jus autem civile à jure gentium distinguitur, quod omnes populi, qui legibus et moribus règuntur, partim suo proprio, partim communi omnium hominum, jure utuntur: nam quod quisque populus sibi jus constituit, id ipsius proprium civitatis est, vocaturque jus civile, quasi jus proprium ipsius civitatis. Quod vero naturalis ratio inter omnes homines constituit, id apud omnes gentes per que custoditur, vocaturque jus gentium, quasi quo jure omnes gentes utantur: et populus itaque Romanus, partim suo proprio, partim communi omnium hominum, jure utitur. Que singula, qualia sint, suis locis proponemus. 1. Civil law is distinguished from the law of nations, because every community governed by laws, uses partly its own and partly the laws which are common to all mankind. That law, which a people enacts for its own government, is called the civil law of that people. But that law, which natural reason appoints for all mankind, is called the law of nations, because all nations make use of it. The people of Rome are governed partly by their own laws, and partly by the laws, which are common to all men. Of these we shall treat sepurately in their proper places. Ab appellatione et effectibus. II. Sed jus quidem civile ex unâquaque civitate appellatur, veluti Atheniensium: nam, si quis velit Solonis vel Draconis leges appellare jus civile Atheniensium, non erraverit. Sic enim et jus, quo Romanus populus utitur, jus civile Romanorum appellamus, vel jus Quiritum, quo Quirites utuntur: Romani enim a Romulo, Quirites a Quirino, appellantur. Sed, quoties non addimus nomen cujus sit civitatis, nostrum jus significamus: sicuti cum poëtam dicimus, nec addimus nomen, subauditus apud Græcos egregius Homerus, apud nos Virgilius. Jus autem gentium omni humano generi commune est: pam, usu exigente et 2. Civil laws take their denomination from that city, in which they are established: it would not therefore be erroneous to call the laws of Solon or Draco the civil laws of Athens: and thus the law, which the Roman people make use of, is styled the civil law of the Romans, or of the Quirites; for the Romans are also called Quirites from Quirinus. Whenever we mention the words civil law, without addition, we emphatically denote our own law; thus the Greeks, when they say the poet, mean Homer, and the Romans Virgil. The law of nations is common to all mankind and all nations have enacted some laws, as occasion and 1 humanis necessitatibus, gentes human e jura qu dam sibi constituerunt: bella etenim orta sunt, et cap tivitates secut, et servitutes, quæ sunt naturali juri contrariæ: jure enim naturali omnes homines ab initio liberi nascebantur: et ex hoc jure gentium, omnes penè contractus introducti sunt, ut emptio et venditio, locatio et conductio, societas, depositum, mutuum, et alii innumerabiles. necessity required: for wars arosè, and the consequences were captivity and servitude; both which are con trary to the law of nature; for by that law, all men are born free. But almost all contracts were at first introduced by the law of nations; as for instance, buying, selling, letting, hireing, partnership, a deposit, a loan and others without number. Divisio juris in scriptum et non scriptum; et subdivisio juris scripti. III. Constat autem jus nostrum, quo utimur, aut scripto, aut sine scripto: ut apud Græcos TWY νόμων οι μεν εγγράφοι, οι δε αγραφοι. Scriptum autem jus, est, lex, plebiscitum, senatus-consultum, principum placita, magistratuum edicta, responsa prudentum. De lege et IV. Lex est, quod populus Romanus, senatorio magistratu interrogante, (veluti consule,) constituebat. Plebiscitum est, quod plebs, plebeio magistratu interrogante, (veluti tribuno,) constituebat. Plebs autem a populo eo differt, quo species a genere; nam appellatione populi universi cives significantur, connumeratis etiam patriciis et senatoribus. Plebis autem appellatione, sine patriciis et senatoribus, cæteri cives significantur. Sed et plebiscita, lege Hortensia lata, non minus valere, quam leges, ceperunt. 3. The Roman law is divided, like the Grecian, into written and unwritten. The written, consists of the plebiscites, the decrees of the senate, ordinances of princes, the edicts of magistrates, and the answers of the sages of the law. plebiscito. § 4. A law is what the Roman people enact at the request of a senatorial magistrate; as a consul. A plebiscite is what the commonalty enact, when requested by a plebeian magistrate, as a tribune. The word commonalty differs from people, as a species from its genus; for all the citizens, including patricians and senators, are comprehended under the term people. The term commonalty, includes all the citizens, except patricians and senators. The plebiscites, by the Hortensian law, began to have the same force, as the laws themselves. De senatus-consulto. V. Senatus-consultum est, quod senatus jubet atque constituit: nam, cum auctus esset populus Romanus in eum modum, ut difficile esset, in unum eum convocari legis sanciendæ causa, æquum visum est, senasum vice populi consuli. 5. A senatorial decree is what the senate commands and appoints = for, when the people of Rome became so increased that it was difficult to assemble them for the enacting of laws, it seemed right, that the senate should be consulted instead of the people. De constitutione. VI. Sed et, quod principi placuit, legis habet vigorem: cum lege regia, quæ de ejus imperio lata est, populus ei, et in eum, omne imperium suum et potestatem concedat. Quodcunque ergo imperator per epistolam constituit, vel cognoscens decrevit, vel edicto præcepit, legem esse constat. Hæc sunt, quæ constitutiones appellantur. Planè ex his quædam sunt personales, quæ nec ad exemplum trahuntur, quoniam non hoc princeps vult: nam quod alicui ob meritum indulsit, vel si quam pœnam irrogavit, vel si cui sine exemplo subvenit, personam non transgreditur. Aliæ autem, cum generales sint, omnes proculdubio tenent. De jure honorario. VII. Prætorum quoque edicta non modicam obtinent juris auctoritatem. Hoc etiam jus honorarium solemus appellare: quod, qui honores gerunt, (id est magistratus,) auctoritatem huic juri dederunt. Proponebant et ædiles curules edictum de quibusdam causis; quod et ipsum juris honorarii portio est, C § 7. The edicts of the prætors are also of great authority. These edicts are called the honorary law, because the magistrates who bear honors in the state, have given them their sanction. The curule ædiles also, upon certain occasions, published their edicts, which became a part of the jus honorarium. |