Publius Juventius Celsus
Publius Juventius Celsus Titus Aufidius Hoenius Severianus (c. 67 – c. 130) — the son of a little-known jurist of the same name, hence also Celsus filius — was, together with
Public life
Celsus was presumably born in upper Italy, where the
As a jurist
Celsus succeeded his father Juventius Celsus in the
Celsus' legal style was bold and biting. Pliny the Younger did, however, criticise his rhetorical weaknesses. Celsus' principal work was his libri digestorum 39, of which books 1-27 discussed Hadrian's edicts -- books 1-12 and 24–27 on the order of the edicts, and books 13-23 concerned legacies and wills -- while books 28-39 discussed the laws the Senate promulgated and numerous senatus consulta.
Notable dicta
- Ius est ars boni et aequi – Law is the art of the good and the equitable (Dig. 1, 1, 1)
- Scire leges non hoc est verba earum tenere, sed vim ac potestatem – Knowing the laws does not mean knowing their words, but their intent and purpose(Dig. 1, 3, 17)
- Incivile est, nisi tota lege perspecta, una aliqua particula eius proposita iudicare vel respondere – It is not artful to judge or to counsel based on a snippet of the law, without taking into consideration the law in its entirety (Dig. 1, 3, 24)
- Impossibilium nulla obligatio est - There is no obligation to do the impossible(Dig. 50, 17, 185)
- Nihil aliud est actio quam ius quod nobis debeatur, iudicio persequendi - An action is nothing else but the right to recover by judicial process on the merits that which is owing to one (Dig. 44, 7, 51)
References
Sources
- Ernst Diehl, "Iuventius 13", Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft Bande X,2 Sp. 1362–1363.
- PIR ² I 882
- Dlugosch, Michaela (2001). "Celsus filius". In Michael Stolleis (ed.). Juristen: ein biographisches Lexikon; von der Antike bis zum 20. Jahrhundert (in German) (2nd ed.). München: Beck. p. 127. ISBN 3-406-45957-9.