J
JĂCŬLUM. [[Hasta].]
JĀNŬA (θύρα), a door. Besides being applicable to the doors of apartments in the interior of a house, which were properly called ostia, this term more especially denoted the first entrance into the house, i.e. the front or street door, which was also called anticum, and in Greek θύρα αὔλειος, αὐλεία, αὔλιος, or αὐλία. The houses of the Romans commonly had a back door, called posticum, postica, or posticula, and in Greek παράθυρα, dim. παραθύριον. The door-way, when complete, consisted of four indispensable parts; the threshold, or sill (limen, βηλός, οὖδας); the lintel (jugumentum, limen superum); and the two jambs (postes, σταθμοί). The door itself was called foris or valva, and in Greek σανίς, κλισιάς, or θύρετρον. These words are commonly found in the plural, because the door-way of every building of the least importance contained two doors folding together. When foris is used in the singular, it denotes one of the folding doors only. The fastenings of the door (claustra, obices) commonly consisted of a bolt (pessulus; μάνδαλος, κατοχεύς, κλεῖθρον) placed at the base of each foris, so as to admit of being pushed into a socket made in the sill to receive it. By night, the front-door of the house was further secured by means of a wooden and sometimes an iron bar (sera, repagula, μοχλός) placed across it, and inserted into sockets on each side of the door-way. Hence it was necessary to remove the bar (τὸν μοχλὸν παράφερειν) in order to open the door (reserare). It was considered improper to enter a house without giving notice to its inmates. This notice the Spartans gave by shouting; the Athenians and all other nations by using the knocker, or more commonly by rapping with the knuckles or with a stick (κρούειν, κόπτειν). In the houses of the rich a porter (janitor, custos, θυρωρός) was always in attendance to open the door. He was commonly an eunuch or a slave, and was chained to his post. To assist him in guarding the entrance, a dog was universally kept near it, being also attached by a chain to the wall; and in reference to this practice, the warning cave canem, εὐλαβοῦ τὴν κύνα, was sometimes written near the door. The appropriate name for the portion of the house immediately behind the door (θυρών) denotes that it was a kind of apartment; it corresponded to the hall or lobby of our houses. Immediately adjoining it, and close to the front door, there was in many houses a small room for the porter.
JENTĀCŬLUM. [[Coena].]
JŪDEX, JŪDĬCĬUM. A Roman magistratus generally did not investigate the facts in dispute in such matters as were brought before him: he appointed a judex for that purpose, and gave him instructions. [[Actio].] Accordingly, the whole of civil procedure was expressed by the two phrases Jus and Judicium, of which the former comprehended all that took place before the magistratus (in jure), and the latter all that took place before the judex (in judicio). In many cases a single judex was appointed: in others, several were appointed, and they seem to have been sometimes called recuperatores, as opposed to the single judex. Under certain circumstances the judex was called arbiter: thus judex and arbiter are named together in the Twelve Tables. A judex when appointed was bound to discharge the functions of the office, unless he had some valid excuse (excusatio). There were certain seasons of the year when legal business was done at Rome, and at these times the services of the judices were required. These legal terms were regulated according to the seasons, so that there were periods of vacation. When the judex was appointed, the proceedings in jure or before the praetor were terminated. The parties appeared before the judex on the third day (comperendinatio), unless the praetor had deferred the judicium for some sufficient reason. The judex was generally aided by advisers (jurisconsulti) learned in the law, who were said in consilio adesse; but the judex alone was empowered to give judgment. The matter was first briefly stated to the judex (causae conjectio, collectio), and the advocates of each party supported his cause in a speech. Witnesses were produced on both sides, and examined orally: the witnesses on one side were also cross-examined by the other. After all the evidence was given and the advocates had finished, the judex gave sentence: if there were several judices, a majority decided. If the matter was one of difficulty, the hearing might be adjourned as often as was necessary (ampliatio); and if the judex could not come to a satisfactory conclusion, he might declare this upon oath, and so release himself from the difficulty. This was done by the form of words non liquere (N. L.). The sentence was pronounced orally, and was sometimes first written on a tablet. If the defendant did not make his appearance after being duly summoned, judgment might be given against him.—According to Cicero, all judicia had for their object, either the settlement of disputes between individuals (controversiae), or the punishment of crimes (maleficia). This refers to a division of judicia, which appears in the jurists, into judicia publica and judicia privata. The former, the judicia publica, succeeded to the judicia populi of the early republican period: the latter were so called because in them the populus acted as judices. Originally the kings presided in all criminal cases, and the consuls succeeded to their authority. But after the passing of the [Lex Valeria] (B.C. 507), which gave an appeal to the populus (that is, the comitia curiata) from the magistratus, the consul could not sit in judgment on the caput of a Roman citizen, but such cases were tried in the comitia, or persons were appointed to preside at such inquiries, who were accordingly called Quaesitores or Quaestores parricidii or rerum capitalium. In course of time, as such cases became of more frequent occurrence, such quaestiones were made perpetual, that is, particular magistrates were appointed for the purpose. It was eventually determined, that while the praetor urbanus and peregrinus should continue to exercise their usual jurisdictions, the other praetors should preside at public trials. In such trials any person might be an accuser (accusator). The praetor generally presided as quaesitor, assisted by a judex quaestionis, and a body of judices called his consilium. The judices were generally chosen by lot out of those who were qualified to act; but in some cases the accuser and the accused (reus) had the privilege of choosing (edere) a certain number of judices out of a large number, who were thence called Edititii. Both the accusator and the reus had the privilege of rejecting or challenging (rejicere) such judices as they did not like. In many cases a lex was passed for the purpose of regulating the mode of procedure.—The judices voted by ballot, at least generally, and a majority determined the acquittal or condemnation of the accused. Each judex was provided with three tablets (tabulae), on one of which was marked A, Absolvo; on a second C, Condemno; and on a third N. L., Non liquet. The judices voted by placing one of these tablets in the urns, which were then examined for the purpose of ascertaining the votes. It was the duty of the magistratus to pronounce the sentence of the judices; in the case of condemnation, to adjudge the legal penalty; of acquittal, to declare the accused acquitted; and of doubt, to declare that the matter must be further investigated (amplius cognoscendum).—A judicium populi, properly so called, was one in which the case was tried in the comitia curiata, but afterwards in the comitia centuriata and tributa. The accuser, who must be a magistratus, commenced by declaring in a contio that he would on a certain day accuse a certain person, whom he named, of some offence, which he also specified. This was expressed by the phrase diem dicere. If the offender held any high office, it was necessary to wait till his time of service had expired, before proceedings could be thus commenced against him. The accused was required to give security for his appearance on the day of trial; the security was called vades in a causa capitalis, and praedes when the penalty for the alleged offence was pecuniary. If such security was not given, the accused was kept in confinement. If nothing prevented the inquiry from taking place at the time fixed for it, the trial proceeded, and the accuser had to prove his case by evidence. The investigation of the facts was called anquisitio with reference to the proposed penalty: accordingly, the phrases pecunia, capite or capitis anquirere, are used. When the investigation was concluded, the magistratus promulgated a rogatio, which comprehended the charge and the punishment or fine. It was a rule of law that a fine should not be imposed together with another punishment in the same rogatio. The rogatio was made public during three nundinae, like any other lex, and proposed at the comitia for adoption or rejection. The accused sometimes withdrew into exile before the votes were taken; or he might make his defence. The offences which were the chief subject of judicia populi and publica were majestas, adulteria and stupra, parricidium, falsum, vis publica and privata, peculatus, repetundae, ambitus.—With the passing of special enactments for the punishment of particular offences, was introduced the practice of forming a body of judices for the trial of such offences as the enactments were directed against. The Album Judicum was the body out of which judices were to be chosen. It is not known what was the number of the body so constituted, but it has been conjectured that the number was 350, and that ten were chosen from each tribe, and thus the origin of the phrase Decuriae Judicum is explained. It is easy to conceive that the judicia populi, properly so called, would be less frequent, as special leges were framed for particular offences, the circumstances of which could be better investigated by a smaller body of judices than by the assembled people. The [Lex Servilia] (B.C. 104) enacted that the judices should not be under thirty nor above sixty years of age, that the accuser and accused should severally propose one hundred judices, and that each might reject fifty from the list of the other, so that one hundred would remain for the trial. Up to B.C. 122 the judices were always senators, but in this year the [Sempronia Lex] of C. Gracchus took the judicia from the senators and gave them to the equites. This state of things lasted nearly fifty years, till Sulla (B.C. 80) restored the judicia to the senate, and excluded the equites from the album judicum. A [Lex Aurelia] (B.C. 70) enacted that the judices should be chosen from the three classes—of senators, equites, and tribuni aerarii; and accordingly the judicia were then said to be divided between the senate and the equites. The tribuni aerarii were taken from the rest of the citizens, and were, or ought to have been, persons of some property. Thus the three decuriae of judices were formed; and it was either in consequence of the [Lex Aurelia] or the [Lex Fufia] that, instead of one urn for all the tablets, the decuriae had severally their balloting urn, so that the votes of the three classes were known. It is not known if the [Lex Aurelia] determined the number of judices in any given case. The [Lex Pompeia] de Vi and De Ambitu (B.C. 52) determined that eighty judices were to be selected by lot, out of whom the accuser and the accused might reject thirty. In the case of Clodius, in the matter of the Bona Dea, there were fifty-six judices. It is conjectured that the number fixed for a given case, by the [Lex Aurelia], was seventy judices. Augustus added to the existing three decuriae judicum a fourth decuria, called that of the Ducenarii, who had a lower pecuniary qualification, and only decided in smaller matters. Caligula added a fifth decuria, in order to diminish the labours of the judices.
JŪGĔRUM, a Roman measure of surface, 240 feet in length and 120 in breadth, containing therefore 28,800 square feet. It was the double of the Actus Quadratus, and from this circumstance, according to some writers, it derived its name. [[Actus].] The uncial division [[As]] was applied to the jugerum, its smallest part being the scrupulum of 10 feet square, = 100 square feet. Thus the jugerum contained 288 scrupula. The jugerum was the common measure of land among the Romans. Two jugera formed an heredium, a hundred heredia a centuria, and four centuriae a saltus. These divisions were derived from the original assignment of landed property, in which two jugera were given to each citizen as heritable property.
JŬGUM (ζυγός, ζυγόν), signified in general that which joined two things together, such as the transverse beam which united the upright posts of a loom, the cross-bar of a lyre, a scale-beam, &c., but it denoted more especially the yoke by which ploughs and carriages were drawn. The following woodcut shows two examples of the yoke: the upper one is provided with two collars, the lower one with excavations cut in the yoke, in order to give more ease and freedom to the animals. The latter figure shows the method of tying the yoke to the pole (temo, ῥυμός) by means of a leathern strap. The word jugum is often used to signify slavery, or the condition in which men are compelled, against their will, like oxen or horses, to labour for others. Hence, to express symbolically the subjugation of conquered nations, the Romans made their captives pass under a yoke (sub jugum mittere), which, however, was not made like the yoke used in drawing carriages or ploughs, but consisted of a spear supported transversely by two others placed upright.
Jugum, yoke.
JŪRISCONSULTI or JŪRĔCONSULTI arose among the Romans after the separation of the Jus Civile from the Jus Pontificium. Such a body certainly existed before the time of Cicero, and the persons who professed to expound the law were called by the various names of jurisperiti, jurisconsulti, or consulti simply. They were also designated by other names, as jurisprudentes, prudentiores, peritiores, and juris auctores. The business of the early jurisconsulti consisted both in advising and acting on behalf of their clients (consultores) gratuitously. They gave their advice or answers (responsa) either in public places which they attended at certain times, or at their own houses; and not only on matters of law, but on any thing else that might be referred to them. The words scribere and cavere referred to their employment in drawing up formal instruments, such as contracts or wills, &c. At a later period, many of these functions were performed by persons who were paid by a fee, and thus there arose a body of practitioners distinct from those who gave responsa and who were writers and teachers. Tiberius Coruncanius, a plebeian, who was consul B.C. 281, and also the first plebeian Pontifex Maximus, is mentioned as the first who publicly professed (publice professus est), and he was distinguished both for his knowledge of the law and his eloquence.
JŪRISDICTIO, signifies generally the authority of the magistrate “qui jus dicit,” and is mostly applied to the authority of the praetor in civil cases, such as the giving of the formula in an actio and the appointment of a judex. [[Actio].]
JŪS. The law peculiar to the Roman state is sometimes called Jus Civile Romanorum, but more frequently Jus Civile only. The Jus Quiritium is equivalent to the Jus Civile Romanorum. The jus civile of the Romans is divisible into two parts, jus civile in the narrower sense, and jus pontificium, or the law of religion. This opposition is sometimes expressed by the words Jus and Fas. The law of religion, or the Jus Pontificium, was under the control of the pontifices, who in fact originally had the control of the whole mass of the law; and it was only after the separation of the jus civile in its wider sense into the two parts of the jus civile, in its narrower sense, and the jus pontificium, that each part had its proper and peculiar limits. Still, even after the separation, there was a mutual relation between these two branches of law; for instance, an adrogatio was not valid by the jus civile unless it was valid by the jus pontificium. Again, jus pontificium, in its wider sense, as the law of religion, had its subdivisions, as into jus augurum, pontificium, &c.
JŪS CĪVĪLE. [[Jus].]
JŪS LĂTĪI. [[Civitas]; [Latinitas].]
JUS PONTĬFĬCĬUM. [[Jus].]
JUS QUĬRĪTĬUM. [[Jus].]
JUSJŪRANDUM (ὅρκος), an oath. (1) Greek. An oath is an appeal to some superior being, calling on him to bear witness that the swearer speaks the truth, or intends to perform the promise which he makes. We find early mention in the Greek writers of oaths being taken on solemn and important occasions, as treaties, alliances, vows, compacts, and agreements, both between nations and individuals. The Greeks paid high regard to the sanctity of oaths. The poets frequently allude to the punishment of perjury after death, which they assign to the infernal gods or furies, and we find many proofs of a persuasion that perjurers would not prosper in this world. Anciently the person who took an oath stood up, and lifted his hands to heaven, as he would in prayer; for an oath was a species of prayer, and required the same sort of ceremony. Oaths were frequently accompanied with sacrifice or libation. The parties used also to lay their hands upon the victims, or on the altar or some other sacred thing, as if by so doing they brought before them the deity by whom the oath was sworn, and made him witness of the ceremony. Hence the expressions πρὸς τὸν βωμὸν ἐξορκίζειν, ὀμνύναι καθ’ ἱερῶν. The hand especially was regarded as a pledge of fidelity, and the allusions to the junction of hands in making contracts and agreements abound in the ancient writers. The different nations of Greece swore by their own peculiar gods and heroes; as the Thebans by Hercules, Iolaus, &c., the Lacedaemonians by Castor and Pollux, the Corinthians by Poseidon; the Athenians swore principally by Zeus, Athena, Apollo (their πατρῷος θεὸς), Demeter, and Dionysus. The office or character of the party, or the place, or the occasion often suggested the oath to be taken. As swearing became a common practice with men upon trivial occasions, and in ordinary conversation, they used to take oaths by any god, person, or thing, as their peculiar habits or predilections, or the fancy of the moment, dictated. Women also had their favourite oaths. As the men preferred swearing by Hercules, Apollo, &c., so the other sex used to swear by Aphrodite, Demeter, and Persephone, Hera, Hecate, Artemis; and Athenian women by Aglauros, Pandrosus, &c.—(2) Roman. I. Oaths taken by magistrates and other persons who entered the service of the republic.—After the establishment of the republic the consuls, and subsequently all the other magistrates, were obliged, within five days after their appointment, to promise on oath that they would protect and observe the laws of the republic (in leges jurare). Vestal virgins and the flamen dialis were not allowed to swear on any occasion. During the later period of the republic we also find that magistrates, when the time of their office had expired, addressed the people and swore that during their office they had undertaken nothing against the republic, but had done their utmost to promote its welfare. All Roman soldiers after they were enlisted for a campaign, had to take the military oath (sacramentum). It may here be remarked that any oath might be taken in two ways: the person who took it, either framed it himself, or it was put to him in a set form, and in this case he was said in verba jurare, or jurare verbis conceptis.—II. Oaths taken in transactions with foreign nations in the name of the republic. According to the most ancient form the pater patratus pronounced the oath in the name of his country, and struck the victim with a flint-stone, calling on Jupiter to destroy the Roman nation in like manner, as he (the pater patratus) destroyed the animal, if the people should violate the oath. The chiefs or priests of the other nation then swore in a similar manner by their own gods. In swearing to a treaty with a foreign nation, a victim (a pig or a lamb) was in the early times always sacrificed by the fetialis (whence the expressions foedus icere, ὅρκια τέμνειν), and the priest while pronouncing the oath probably touched the victim or the altar. The jus fetiale, however, fell into disuse as the Romans extended their conquests; and as in most cases of treaties with foreign nations, the Romans were not the party that chose to promise anything on oath, we hear no more of oaths on their part. At first the Romans were very scrupulous in observing their oaths in contracts or treaties with foreigners, and even with enemies; but from the third Punic war to the end of the republic, perjury was common among the Romans in their dealings with foreigners as well as among themselves.—III. Oaths or various modes of swearing in common life. The practice of swearing in ordinary conversations, was as common among the Romans as among the Greeks. The forms used were sometimes simple invocations of one or more gods, as Hercle or Mehercle, that is, ita me Hercules juvet, amet, or servet; Pol, Perpol or Aedepol, that is, per Pollucem; per Jovem Lapidem or simply per Jovem; per superos; per deos immortales; medius fidius, that is, ita me Dius (Δίος) filius juvet; ita me deus amet, or dii ament. Women as well as men swore by most of the gods; but some oaths were peculiar to one of the sexes. Thus women never swore by Hercules, and men never by Castor. Sometimes oaths were accompanied with an execration, in case the swearer was stating a falsehood: as Dii me perdant; dii me interficiant; dispeream; ne vivam; ne salvus sim, &c.—IV. Oaths taken before the praetor or in courts of justice. There might be a jusjurandum either in jure or in judicio. The jusjurandum in jure is the oath which one party proposed to his adversary (detulit) that he should make about the matter in dispute; and the effect of the oath being taken or refused was equivalent to a judicium. The jusjurandum in judicio (jusjurandum judiciale) was required by the judex, and not by either of the parties, though either of the parties might suggest it.
JUSTĬTĬUM, a cessation of public business of every kind. Thus the courts of law and the treasury were shut up, no ambassadors were received in the senate, and no auctions took place. The Justitium was proclaimed (edicere, indicere) by the senate and the magistrates in times of public alarm and danger; and after confidence and tranquillity had been restored, the Justitium was removed (remittere, exuere) by the same authorities. As such times of alarm are usually accompanied with general sorrow, a Justitium came in course of time to be ordained as a mark of public mourning, and under the empire was only employed for this reason.
JŬVĔNĀLĬA, or JŬVĔNĀLES LŪDI, scenic games instituted by Nero, in A.D. 59, in commemoration of his shaving his beard for the first time, thus intimating that he had passed from youth to manhood. He was then in the twenty-second year of his age. These games were not celebrated in the circus, but in a private theatre erected in a pleasure-ground (nemus), and consisted of every kind of theatrical performance, Greek and Roman plays, mimetic pieces, and the like. The Juvenalia continued to be celebrated by subsequent emperors, but not on the same occasion. The name was given to those games which were exhibited by the emperors on the 1st of January in each year. They no longer consisted of scenic representations, but of chariot races and combats of wild beasts.