ACERRA. crease becoming the property of him to whom the thing itself belongs. The rule of law was expressed thus: Accessio cedit principali. Examples of accessio are contained under the heads of ALLUVIO, CONFUSIO, FRUCTUS, &c. ACCIPEN'SER. (Vid. ACIPEN'SER.) *ACCIPITER. (Vid. HIERAX.) ACCLAMATIO was the public expression of approbation or disapprobation, pleasure or displeasure, by loud acclamations. On many occasions, there appear to have been certain forms of acclamations always used by the Romans; as, for instance, at marriages, lo Hymen, Hymenae, or Talassio (explained by Livy'); at triumphs, lo triumphe, Io triumphe; at the conclusion of plays the last actor called out Plandite to the spectators; orators were usually praised by such expressions as Bene et prædare, Belle et festive, Non potest melius, &c. Other instances of acclamationes are given by Ferrarius, in his De Veterum Acclamationibus et Plausu; in Grævius, Thesaur. Rom. Antiq., vol. vi. ACCU BITA, the name of couches which were used in the time of the Roman emperors, instead of the triclinium, for reclining upon at meals. The mattresses and feather-beds were softer and higher, and the supports (fulcra) of them lower in proportion, than in the triclinium. The clothes and pillows spread over them were called accubitalia.♦ ACCUSATIO. (Vid. CRIMEN, JUDICIUM.) *ACER. (Vid. SPHENDAMNUS.) ACER RA (λιβανωτίς, λιβανωτρίς), the incensebox used in sacrifices. Horace, enumerating the principal articles necessary in a solemn sacrifice to Juno, mentions "Flowers and a box full of frankincense." In Virgil, Eneas worships "with corn and with frankincense from the full acerra." "Farre pio et plena supplex veneratur acerra.” Servius explains the last word as meaning arca thuralis. ACETABULUM. ACETABULUM (ὀξίς, ὀξύβαφον, ὀξυβάφιον), τ vinegar-cup. Among the various ways in which the Greeks and Romans made use of vinegar (acetum) in their cookery and at their meals, it appears that it was customary to have upon the table a cup containing vinegar, into which the guests might dip their bread, lettuce, fish, or other viands, before eating them. Of this fact we have no direct assurance; but it is implied in one of the Greek names of this utensil, viz., oğúbagov, from ¿§ús, acid, and ẞánтw, to dip or immerse. It also suits the various secondary applications of these terms, both in Latin and in Greek, which suppose the vessel to have been wide and open above. In fact, the acetabulum must have been in form and size very like a modern teacup. It probably differed from the тpúbλov, a vessel to which it was in other respects analogous, in being of smaller capacity and dimensions. These vinegar-cups were commonly of earthenware,' but sometimes of silver, bronze, or gold." The accompanying figure is taken from Panofka's Work on the names and forms of Greek vases. He states that on the painted vase, belonging to a collection at Naples, from which he took this figure, the name bubaga is traced underneath it. This may therefore be regarded as an authentic specimen of the general form of an antique vinegar-cup. From proper vinegar-cups, the Latin and Greek terms under consideration were transferred to all cups resembling them in size and form, to whatever use they might be applied. Pliny, enumerating the principal works of Parrhasius of Ephesus, says that he painted Sacerdotem adstante puero cum acerra et corona. The picture, therefore, represented a priest preparing to sacrifice, with the boy standing beside him, and holding the incense-box and a wreath of flowers. This was, no doubt, a very common and favourite subject for artists of every kind. It frequently occurs in bas- As the vinegar-cup was always small, and probreliefs representing sacrifices, and executed on ably varied little in size, it came to be used as a vases, friezes, and other ancient monuments. It measure. Thus we read of an acetabulum of honey occurs three times on the Columna Trajana at or of salt, which is agreeable to our practice of Rome, and once on the Arch of Constantine. measuring by teacups, wine-glasses, or table-spoons. The annexed figure is taken from a bas-relief in We are informed that, as a measure, the oibapov, the museum of the Capitol. or acetabulum, was a cyathus and a half, or the fourth part of a кorúλn, or hemina.3 1. (Dig. 34, tit. 2, s. 19, § 13.)-2. (i., 9.)-3. (Cic., de Orat., ., 26.)-4. (Lamprid., Heliog., 19, 25.-Schol. in Juv., Sat., v., 17.)-5. (Od., ii., viii., 2.)-6. ("Flores, et acerra turis plena.")-7. (En., v., 745.)-8. (Plin., H. N., xxxv., 36, 5.)-9. (Cic., de Leg., ii., 24.) The use of these cups by jugglers is distinctly mentioned. They put stones or other objects under certain cups, and then by sleight of hand abstracted them without being observed, so that the spectators, to their great amusement and surprise, found the stones under different cups from those which they expected. Those persons, who were called in Latin acetabularii, because they played with acetabula, were in Greek called noолaiктаι, because they played with stones (po); and under this name the same description of performers is mentioned by Sextus Empiricus. 4 In the Epistles of Alciphron, a countryman who had brought to the city an ass laden with figs, and had been taken to the theatre, describes his speechless astonishment at the following spectacle: "A man came into the midst of us and set down a three-legged table (тpíroda). He placed upon it three cups, and under these he concealed some 1. (κεράμεα μικρά : Schol. Aristoph.—ἐστὶ τὸ ὀξύβαφον εἶδος KALKOS Kpas Kɛpautas: Athenæus, xi., p. 494.)-2. (Athena us, vi., p. 230.)-3. (Böckh, Gewichte, &c., p. 22.)-4. (iii., 20.) 13 small white round pebbles, such as we find on the banks of rapid brooks. He at one time put one of these under each cup; and then, I know not how, showed them all under one cup. At another time he made them disappear altogether from under the cups, and showed them in his mouth. Then having swallowed them, and having caused those who stood near to advance, he took one stone out of a person's nose, another out of his ear, and a third out of his head. At last he caused them all to disappear entirely." In this passage Alciphron calls the cups μkpas napopidas. It may be observed, that rapovic was equivalent to o§úbador when used in its wider acceptation, and denoted a basin or cup set on the table by the side of the other dishes, to hold either vinegar, pickles (acetaria), sauce, or anything else which was taken to give a relish to the substantial viands. The word (paropsis) was adopted into the Latin language, and is found in Juvenal, Martial, and other writers of the same period. *ACE'TUM (õ§oç), vinegar. The kinds most in repute among the ancients were the Egyptian and Chidian. Pliny gives a full account of the medical properties of vinegar. Among other applications, it was employed when leeches had been introduced into the stomach, or adhered to the larynx. Strong salt and water would, however, have been more efficacious in making these loosen their hold, and in facilitating the vomiting of them forth. Vinegar was also given in long-standing coughs, just as modern practitioners give oxymels in chronic catarrhs.2 fluor spar, containing, as it sometimes does, disseminated particles of iron pyrites. The agate was also called in Greek aioxúrηS. *ACHERD'US (uxepdos), the wild pear-tree,❜ also a kind of thorn of which hedges were made. Sprengel suggests that it is the Cratagus Azarolus. *ACHERO'IS (axepwis), the white poplar-tree.* *ACH'ETAS (úxéraç), according to Hesychius, the male Cicada; but this is clearly either a mistake or an error of the text, as there can be no doubt that it is merely an epithet applied to the larger species of Cicada, and signifying "vocal." (Vid. Cicada.) *ACHILLE OS ('Axíλ2ɛios), a plant, fabled to have been discovered by Achilles, and with which he cured the wound of Telephus. The commentators on Pliny make it the Sideritis heraclea. It is difficult, however, to decide the question from the text of the Roman writer merely. On recurring to that of Dioscorides, we may, perhaps, conclude as follows: the Achilleos with the golden flower is the Achillea tomentosa seu Abrotanifolia; the kind with the purple flower is the A. tanacetifolia; and the one with white flowers, the A. nobilis seu magna.' AC'IES. (Vid. ARMY.) ACILIA LEX. (Vid. REPETUNDÆ.) ACI'NACES (ȧkiváκnç), a poniard. This word, as well as the weapon which it denotes, is Persian. Herodotus says, that when Xerxes was preparing to cross the Hellespont with his army, he threw into it, together with some other *ACHA'INES (axaivns), the Daguet or young things, "A Persian sword, which they call an acistag.3 naces." As the root ac, denoting sharpness, an ACH'ANE (ȧxúvn). A Persian measure equiva-edge or a point, is common to the Persian, together lent to 45 Attic μédiμvoi. According to Hesychius, with the Greek and Latin, and the rest of the Indothere was also a Bœotian ¿xúvn equivalent to one European languages, we may ascribe to this word Attic μέδιμνος. the same general origin with ἀκμή, ακωκή, acuo, acies, and many other Greek and Latin words allied to these in signification. Horace' calls the weapon Medus acinaces, intending by the mention of the Medes to allude to the wars of Augustus and the Romans against Parthia. Acinaces is usually translated a cimeter, a falchion, a sabre, and is supposed to have been curved; but this assumption is unsupported by any evidence. It appears that the acinaces was short and straight. Julius Pollux describes it thus:10 "A Persian dagger fastened to the thigh." Josephus, giving an account of the assassins who infested Judæa before the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, says, "They used daggers, in size resembling the Persian acinaces; but curved, and like those which the Romans call sice, and from which robbers and murderers are called sicarii." The curvature of the daggers here described was probably intended to allow them to fit closer to the body, and thus to be concealed with greater ease under the garments. Thus we see that the Persian acinaces differed from the Roman sica in this, that the former was straight, the latter curved. *ACHA'TES (άxárns), an agate, a precious stone or gem. The agate is a semi-pellucid stone of the flint class. Theophrastus describes it as a beautiful and rare stone from the river Achates in Sicily (now the Drillo, in the Val di Noto), which sold at a high price; but Pliny tells us that in his time it was, though once highly valued, no longer in esteem, it being then found in many places, of large size, and diversified appearance. The ancients distinguished agates into many species, to each of which they gave a name importing its difference from the common agate, whether it were in colour, figure, or texture. Thus they called the red, Hamachates, which was sprinkled with spots of jasper, or blood-red chalcedony, and was the variety now called dotted agate. The white they termed Leucachates; the plain yellowish or wax-coloured, Cerachates, which was a variety little valued because of its abundance. Those which approached to or partook of the nature of other stones, they distinguished by names compounded of their own generical name, and that of the stone they resembled or partook of; thus, that species which seemed allied to the Jaspers they called Jaspachates (the jasper- Another peculiarity of the acinaces was, that it agate of modern mineralogists); that which par- was made to be worn on the right side of the body, took of the nature of the Carnelian, Sardachates; and whereas the Greeks and Romans usually had their those which had the resemblance of trees and shrubs swords suspended on the left side. Hence Valerius on them, they called for that reason Dendrachates. Flaccus speaks of Myraces, a Parthian, as InThis last is what we call at the present dendritic signis manicis, insignis acinace dextro.12 The same agate, described in the Orphic poem under the name fact is illustrated by the account given by Ammianus of aɣárns devopneic. The Corallachates was so called Marcellinus of the death of Cambyses, king of Perfrom some resemblance that it bore to coral. Pliny sia, which was occasioned by an accidental wound describes it as sprinkled like the sapphire with from his own acinaces: “Suomet pugione, quem apspots of gold. Dr. Moore thinks, that in this latter 1. (Theophrast., de Lapid., 58.-Hill, in loc.-Plin., H. N., case the ancients confounded with agate the yellow xxxvii., 54.-Orph., Lith., v., 230.-Solin., Polyhist., c. xi.Moore's Anc. Mineralogy, p. 178.)-2. (Soph., Œd. Col., 1592.) 1. (Athenæus, 2, p. 67.-Juv., Sat., xiii., 85.-Mart., xiii., 122.)-3. (Adams, Append., s. v.)-4. (Spreng., i., 28.)-5. (Adams, -2. (Plin., H. N., xxiii., 27.-Fée, in loc.)-3. (Aristot., H. A., Append., s. v.)-6. (Plin., H. N., xxv., 5.)-7. (Fée in Plin., l. ix., 6.-Salmas., Exerc. Plin., p. 222.)-4. (Schol, in Aristoph., c.)-8. (vii., 54.)—9. (Od. 1, xxvii., 5.)-10. (Пεpoikov žicídiov Acharn., 108, who quotes the authority of Aristotle.-Wurm, der unp poonprnuévov.)—11. (Joseph., Ant. Jud., xx., 7, seqq.) Pond., &c., p. 133.) -12. (Argon., vi., 701.) ACIPENSER. ACRATOPHORUM. tatum femori dextro gestabat, subita vi ruina nudato, | yakeós Pódios were varieties of this fish. It is vulneratus." The Latin historian here gives pugio also called oviokoç by Durio in Athenæus." as the translation of the Persian term. ACLIS, a kind of dart. The form of the acinaces, with the method of using it, is illustrated in a striking manner by two classes of ancient monuments. In the first place, in the bas-reliefs which adorn the ruins of Persepolis, the acinaces is invariably straight, and is commonly suspended over the right thigh, never over the left, but sometimes in front of the body. The figures in the annexed woodcut are selected from engravings of the ruins of Persepolis, published by Le Bruyn, Chardin, Niebuhr, and Porter. Tela, sed hæc lento mos est aptare flagello." From this account it appears that the peculiarity of the aclis consisted in having a leathern thong attached to it; and the design of this contrivance probably was, that, after it had been thrown to a distance, it might be drawn back again. The aclis was certainly not a Roman weapon. It is always represented as used by foreign nations, and distinguishing them from Greeks and Romans. ACNA, ACNUA. (Vid. ACTUS.) ̓ΑΚΟΗΝ ΜΑΡΤΥΡΕΙΝ (ἀκοὴν μαρτυρεῖν). By the Athenian law, a witness could properly only give evidence of what he had seen himself, not of what he had heard from others; but when an individual had heard anything relating to the matter in dispute from a person who was dead, an exception was made to the law, and what he had heard from the deceased person might be given in evidence, which was called ȧкonv μартvрeiv. It would appear, however, from a passage in Isæus, that a witness might give evidence respecting what he had not seen, but that this evidence was considered of lighter value." *AC'ONE (άkóvn), the whetstone or Novaculite (Kirman), the same as the whet slate of Jameson, and consisting principally of silex and alum. Theophrastus informs us that the Armenian whetstones were in most repute in his time. The Cyprian were also much sought after. Pliny confounds these with diamonds. *ACONITUM (ȧkóviтov), a plant, of which Dioscorides enumerates two species, the rapdahíayxes, and the AUKOKTOVOV. The latter of these is considered by Dodonæus, Woodville, Sprengel, and most of the authorities, to be the Aconitum Napellus, or Wolf's-bane. Respecting the former species there is greater diversity of opinion; however, Sprengel is inclined, upon the whole, to agree with Dodonaeus and Sibthorp in referring it to the Doronicum pardalianches, or Leopard's-bane. It would seem to be the kaupapov of Hippocrates, and the aкоprios of Theophrastus. *ACON TIAS (ákovтíaç), the name of a serpent. There can be no doubt that this is the Jaculus of Lucan.10 Elian is the only author who confounds it with the Chersydrus. Aëtius calls it Cenchrites, from the resemblance which its spots bear to the seeds of millet (kéyxpoç). It is called cafezate and alterarate in the Latin translation of Avicenna. According to Belon, it is about three palms long, and the thickness of a man's little finger; its colour that of ashes, with black spots. Sprengel thinks it may have been a variety of the Coluber Berus, or Viper." *AC'ORUS (akoрoç), a plant, which most of the commentators hold to be the Acorus Calamus, or Sweet Flag. Sprengel, however, in his annotations on Dioscorides, prefers the Pseudacorum.12 ACQUISITIO is used to express the acquisition of ownership, or property generally. The several modes of acquiring property among the Romans, and the incidents of property when acquired, are treated of under the various heads of IN JURE CESSIO, MANCIPATIO, USUCAPIO, ACCESSIO, &c., and see DOMINIUM. ACRATOPH'ORUM, a small vessel for hold1. (Athen., vii., p. 295.)-2. (vii., p. 294.)-3. (En., vii., 730.)-4. (Sil. Ital., iii., 362.-Val. Flac., Argonaut., vi., 99.)-5. (Demosth., c. Steph., p. 1130.)-6. (Demosth., c. Steph., p. 1130. -Id., c. Leoch., p. 1097.-Id., c. Eubul., p. 1300.-Meyer and Schömann, Attisch. Proc., p. 669.-Petitus, Leg. Att., iv., 7, (Adams, Append., s. v.)-9. (H. P., ix., 18.-Adams, Append., s. v.)-10. (Pharsal., ix., 720, 823.)-11. (Spreng., Comment. in Dioscorid.-Elian, N. A., viii., 13.)-12. (Theophrast., H. P., 1, 22.-Dioscorid., i., 2.) ing wine, a wine-cup. The name is derived from *ACROA'SIS (ȧкpóаσiç). I. A literary discourse or lecture. The term (itself of Greek origin) is applied by the Latin writers to a discourse or disputation, by some instructer or professor of an art, to a numerous audience. The corresponding Latin term is Auditio. II. It also signifies a place or room where literary men meet, a lecture-room or school. ACRO LITHOI (άkpóй00), statues, of which the extremities (head, feet, and hands) were only of stone, and the remaining part of the body of bronze or gilded wood." on the summit of a pediment. According to some writers, the word only means the pediment on which the ornaments are placed. II. It signified also the akpooтóλiov or uphaorov of a ship, which were usually taken from a conquered vessel as a mark of victory. III. It was also applied to the extremities of a statue, wings, feet, hands, &c.3 ACROTHI'NION (ȧкpolíviov), generally used in the plural, means properly the top of the heap (axpos íç), and is thence applied to those parts of the fruits of the earth, and of the booty taken in war, which were offered to the gods. In the Phoenissæ of Euripides, the chorus call themselves dopòç ȧкpolíviov. ACTA DIURNA (proceedings of the day) was a kind of gazette published daily at Rome under the authority of the government. It contained an account of the proceedings of the public assemblies, of the law courts, of the punishment of offenders, and a list of births, marriages, deaths, &c. The proceedings of the public assemblies and the law courts were obtained by means of reporters (actuarii). The proceedings of the senate (acta senatus) were not published till the time of Julius Cæsar, and this custom was prohibited by Augustus. An account of the proceedings of the senate was still preserved, though not published, and some senator seems to have been chosen by the emperor to comped-pile the account. The acta diurna were also called acta populi, acta publica, acta urbana, and usually by the simple name of acta. These acta were frequently consulted and appealed to by later historians." *ACROPODIUM (άкρоñódiov), the base or estal of a statue, so called from its supporting the extremities or soles of the feet (ἄκρος, πούς). ACROSTO LION (ukpooтónov.) the extremity of the στόλος. The στόλος projected from the head of the prow, and its extremity (úкρоσтóλov), which was frequently made in the shape of an animal or a helmet, &c., appears to have been sometimes covered with brass, and to have served as an ¿uboλn against the enemy's vessels. 6 ACTA SENATUS. (Vid. ACTA DIURNA.) ACTIA (άκría) was a festival celebrated every three years at Actium in Epirus, with wrestling, horse-racing, and sea-fights, in honour of Apollo. There was a celebrated temple of Apollo at Actium, which is mentioned by Thucydides and Strabo.11 After the defeat of Antony off Actium, Augustus enlarged the temple, and instituted games to be celebrated every five years in commemoration of his victory.12 ACTIO is defined by Celsus 14 to be the right of pursuing by judicial means what is a man's due. *ACROSTICHIS, an acrostic, a number of verses so contrived, that the first letters of each, being read in the order in which they stand, shall form some name or other word. The word signifies literally the beginning of a line or verse *ACTE (ἀκτή). Dioscorides describes two (йkρos, στixoç). "According to some authorities, a species of Elder, which are undoubtedly the Samwriter named Porphyrius Õptatianus, who flourish-buchus nigra and ebulus, namely, the common and ed in the fourth century, has the credit of having the dwarf elder. The άkτn of Theophrastus is the been the inventor of the acrostic. It is very proba- former of these.13 bly, however, of earlier date. Eusebius, the bishop of Cæsarea, who died in A.D. 340, gives, in his Life of Constantine, a copy of Greek verses, which he asserts were the composition of the Erythræan Sibyl, the initial letters of which made up the words ΙΗΣΟΥΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΘΕΟΥ ΥΙΟΣ ΣΩΤΗΡ, that is, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour. These verses, which are a description of the coming of the day of judgment, have been translated into Latin hexameters, so as to preserve the acrostic in that language, in the words JESUS CHRISTUS DEI FILIUS SERVATOR. The translation, however, wants one of the peculiar qualities of the original; for it will be observed that the initial letters of the five Greek words, being joined together, form the word IXOYE, that is, the fish, which St. Augustine, who quotes the verses in his work entitled De Civitate Dei, informs us is to be understood as a mystical epithet of our Saviour, who lived in this abyss of mortality without contracting sin, in like manner as a fish exists in the midst of the sea without acquiring any flavour of salt from the salt water. This may therefore be called an acrostic within an acrostic." ACROTERIUM (ȧkрwτηplov) signifies the extremity of anything. I. It is used in Architecture to designate the statues or other ornaments placed 1. (Pollux, vi., 16.—Id., x., 20.)-2. (Pro Sext., c. 54.)—3. (Cic., 2 Verr., iv., 22.--Id., pro Arch., 9.-Suet., Octav., 74.-Macrob., Sat., ii., 4.)-4. (Cic. ad Att., i., 12.-Id., ad Fam., v., 9. -Plin., Ep., i., 15.-Aul. Gell., iii., 19.-Nep., Att., 14.)-5. (Vitruv., 10, 11.-Sueton., Illustr. Gramm., c. 2.)-6. (Cie. ad Att., xv., 17.)-7. (Vitruv., ii., 8.)-8. (xaλkhpηs σróλos. sch., Pers., 414.)-9. (Galleus, de Sibyllis Dissertat., p. 123, seq.-Penny Cyclo., vol. i. p. 99.) With respect to its subject-matter, the actio was divided into two great divisions, the in personam actio, and the in rem actio. The in personam actio was against a person who was bound to the plaintiff by contract or delict; the in rem actio applied to those cases where a man claimed a corporeal thing (corporalis res) as his property, or claimed a right, as, for instance, the use and enjoyment of a thing, or the right to a road over a piece of ground (actus). The in rem actio was called vindicatio; the in personam actio was called condictio, because originally the plaintiff gave the defendant notice to appear on a given day for the purpose of choosing a judex. The old actions of the Roman law were called legis actiones, or legitima, either because they were expressly provided for by the laws of the Twelve Tables, or because they were strictly adapted to the words of the laws, and therefore could not be varied. In like manner, the old writs in this country contained the matter or claim of the plaintiff expressed according to the legal form." 1. (Vitruv., iii., 3.-Id., v., 12.)-2. (Xen., Hellen., ii., 3, ◊ 8. Herod., iii., 59.)-3. (Demosth., c. Timocr., p. 738.)-4. (Phœn., cit., Annal., v., 4.)-8. (Lipsius, Excurs. ad Tacit., Ann., v., 4.289.)-5. (Sueton., Jul., 20.)-6. (Sueton., Octav., 36.)-7. (TaLe Clerc, Journaux chez les Romains, p. 198, seqq.)-9. (Steph. Byz., AKTía.)-10. (i., 29.)-11. (vii., p. 325.)-12. (Sueton., Octav., c. 18.)-13. (Theophrast., H. P., i., 5, seqq.-Dioscor., iv., 171, seq.-Adams, Append., s. v. dkr.)-14. (Dig. 44, tit. 7, s. 51.)-15. (“Breve quidem cum sit formatum ad similitudinem regulæ juris, quia breviter et paucis verbis intentionem proferentis exponit et explanat, sicut regula juris, rem quæ est breviter enarrat." Bracton, f. 413.) 1 The five modes of proceeding by legal action, as | world; but the action determines that the defendant named and described by Gaius, were SACRAMENTO, has or has not a claim which is valid against the PER JUDICIS POSTULATIONEM, Per condictionem, plaintiff's claim. The actio in personam implies a PER MANUS INJECTIONEM, PER PIGNORIS CAPTIONEM. determinate person or persons against whom the But these forms of action gradually fell into dis-action lies, the right of the plaintiff being founded use, in consequence of the excessive nicety required, on the acts of the defendant or defendants; it is and the failure consequent on the slightest error in therefore in respect of something which has been the pleadings; of which there is a notable example given by Gaius himself, in the case of a plaintiff who complained of his vines (vites) being cut down, and was told that his action was bad, inasmuch as he ought to have used the term trees (arbores), and not vines; because the law of the Twelve Tables, which gave him the action for damage to his vines, contained only the general expression "trees" (arbores). The Lex Ebutia and two Leges Juliæ abolished the old legitima actiones, except in the case of damnum infectum (Vid. DAMNUM INFECTUM), and in matters which fell under the cognizance of the Centumviri. (Vid. CENTUMVIRI.) agreed to be done, or in respect of some injury for which the plaintiff claims compensation. The actio mixta of Justinian's legislation1 was so called from its being supposed to partake of the nature of the actio in rem and the actio in personam. Such was the action among co-heirs as to the division of the inheritance, and the action for the purpose of settling boundaries which were confused. Rights, and the modes of enforcing them, may also be viewed with reference to the sources from which they flow. Thus the rights of Roman citizens flowed in part from the sovereign power, in part from those to whom power was delegated, That body of law which was founded on, and flowed from, the edicts of the prætors and curule In the old Roman constitution, the knowledge of the law was most closely connected with the institutes and ceremonial of religion, and was accord-ædiles, was called jus honorarium, as opposed to the ingly in the hands of the patricians alone, whose aid their clients were obliged to ask in all their legal disputes. Appius Claudius Cæcus, perhaps one of the earliest writers on law, drew up the various forms of actions, probably for his own use and that of his friends: the manuscript was stolen or copied by his scribe Cn. Flavius, who made it public; and thus, according to the story, the plebeians became acquainted with those legal forms which hitherto had been the exclusive property of the patricians. Upon the old legal actions being abolished, it became the practice to prosecute suits according to certain prescribed forms, or formulæ, as they were called, which will be explained after we have noticed various divisions of actions, as they are made by the Roman writers. jus civile, in its narrower sense, which comprehended the leges, plebiscita, senatus consulta, &c. The jus honorarium introduced new rights and modified existing rights; it also provided remedies suitable to such new rights and modifications of old rights, and this was effected by the actions which the prætors and ædiles allowed. On this jurisdiction of the prætors and ædiles is founded the distinction of ac tions into civiles and honoraria, or, as they are sometimes called, prætoria, from the greater importance of the prætor's jurisdiction. There were several other divisions of actions, all of which had reference to the forms of procedure. The A division of actions was sometimes made with reference to the object which the plaintiff had in view. If the object was to obtain a thing, the action was called persecutoria. If the object was to The division of actiones in the Roman law is obtain damages (pana) for an injury, as in the case somewhat complicated, and some of the divisions of a thing stolen, the action was panalis; for the must be considered rather as emanating from the thing itself could be claimed both by the vindicatio schools of the rhetoricians than from any other and the condictio. If the object was to obtain both source. But this division, though complicated, may the thing and damages, it was probably sometimes be somewhat simplified, or, at least, rendered more called actio mixta, a term which had, however, anintelligible, if we consider that an action is a claim other signification also, as already observed. or demand made by one person against another, division of actiones into directa or vulgares, and uti and that, in order to be a valid legal claim (actio les, must be traced historically to the actiones fictitio atilis), it must be founded on a legal right. The or fictions, by which the rights of action were enmain division of actions must therefore have a ref-larged and extended. The origin of this division erence or analogy to the main division of rights; for in every system of law the form of the action must be the expression of the legal right. Now the general division of rights in the Roman law is into rights of dominion or ownership, which are rights against the whole world, and into rights arising from contract, and quasi contract, and delict. The actio in rem implies a complainant, who claims a certain right against every person who may dispute it, and the object and end of the action is to compel an acknowledgment of the right by the particular person who disputes it. By this action the plaintiff maintains his property in or to a thing, or his rights to a benefit from a thing (servitutes). Thus the actio in rem is not so called on account of the subject-matter of the action, but the term is a technical phrase to express an action which is in no Actions were also divided into ordinaria and exway founded on contract, and therefore has no de-traordinaria. The ordinaria were those which were terminate individual as the other necessary party prosecuted in the usual way, first before the prætor, to the action; but every individual who disputes in jure, and then before the judex, in judicio. "When the right, becomes, by such act of disputing, a party the whole matter was settled before or by the prætor liable to such action. The actio in rem does not as- in a summary way, the name extraordinaria was certain the complainant's right, and from the nature applicable to such action. (Vid. INTERDICT.) of the action the complainant's right cannot be ascertained by it, for it is a right against all the 1. (iv., 12)-2. (iv., 11.)-3. (Cic., de Orat., i., 41.-Id., pro Marzna, c. 11.-Dig. 1, tit. 2, s. 2, ◊ 7.) was in the power assumed by the prætor to grant an action in special cases where no action could legally be brought, and in which an action, if brought, would have been inanis or inutilis. After the decline of the prætor's power, the actiones utiles were still extended by the contrivances of the juris prudentes and the rescripts of the emperors. Whenever an actio utilis was granted, it was framed on some analogy to a legally recognised right of action. Thus, in the examples given by Gaius, he who obtained the bonorum possessio by the prætor's edict, succeeded to the deceased by the prætorian, and not the civil law: he had, therefore, no direct action (directa actio) in respect of the rights of the deceased, and could only bring his action on the fiction of his being what he was not, namely, heres. The foundation of the division of actions into actiones stricti juris, bona fidei, and arbitrariæ, is not quite clear. In the actiones stricti juris, it appears 1. (Inst., iv., tit. 6, s. 20.)-2. (iv., 34.) |