Privatus

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

In Roman law, the Latin adjective 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

public official or a member of the military.[1] 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.[2]

Legal terms

  • Res privatae, private property, or "things belonging to individuals," in contrast to res publicae.[3]
  • Res privata Caesaris, the property of the emperor that was purely private.
  • Ager privatus, privately owned land as distinguished from ager publicus.
  • Actiones privatae,
    civil trials presided over by the iudex privatus (below).[4]
  • Iter privatum, a private road.[5]
  • 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
    Justinian prohibited private prisons.[6]

Iudex privatus

The iudex privatus was a

civil case to which the parties 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. He was also called a iudex unus.[7]

See also

References

  1. ^ Adolf Berger, Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law (American Philological Association, 1953), p. 651.
  2. ^ T. Corey Brennan, The Praetorship in the Roman Republic (Oxford University Press, 2000), pp. 154 online, 610, et passim.
  3. ^ Berger, Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law, p. 670.
  4. ^ Berger, Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law, p. 347.
  5. ^ Berger, Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law, p. 517.
  6. ^ Berger, Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law, p. 381.
  7. ^ George Mousourakis, The Historical and Institutional Context of Roman Law (Ashgate, 2003), p. 128 online.