IV. Nascitur ex contumelia: What did contumelia in the actio iniuriarum really mean?

Janek Drevikovsky

doi:10.1515/zrgr-2023-0004

Article

IV. Nascitur ex contumelia: What did contumelia in the actio iniuriarum really mean?

Janek Drevikovsky

Published/Copyright: June 30, 2023

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From the journal Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte: Romanistische Abteilung Volume 140 Issue 1

Summary

Contumelia, which for the jurists was the definition of the delict iniuria, has been poorly understood by most modern scholarship. The term does not mean ‘contempt’ or any other attitude of the mind; instead, examination of all instances of the word contumelia predating 300 CE demonstrates that, in both lay and legal literature, it meant a kind of degradation or insult which, when judged against Roman rubrics of status and hierarchy, derogated from the honour of a free citizen. In juristic writings on iniuria, contumelia had an objective function, describing the typical fact-patterns proscribed by the praetorian edicts and rationalising those edicts’ piecemeal approach under one convenient lay concept. Contumelia was not iniuria’s mental requirement and, since it did not mean contempt, the delict was simply uninterested in whether a defendant had demonstrated a contemptuous or belittling attitude towards his victim.

Key Words: iniuria; contumelia; delict; hubris; Ulpian

– My deep gratitude to Professor Wolfgang Ernst and Professor Helen Scott for their suggestions and advice during the preparation of this article, and my thanks to Mr Michael Taurian for editorial assistance. All errors are my own.

Appendices^{^[221)]}

Appendix A: Tabulation of contumelia, 2^nd century BCE–3^rd century CE^{^[222)]}

1 Relative Frequencies

Author	No.	Percentage	Author	No.	Percentage
Afranius	1	0.20%	Pacuvius	2	0.40%
Antony	1	0.20%	Petronius	8	1.58%
Apuleius	24	4.75%	Phaedrus	7	1.39%
Aulus Gellius	16	3.17%	Plautus	8	1.58%
Brutus	1	0.20%	Pliny the Elder	8	1.58%
Caecilius	1	0.20%	Pliny the Younger	11	2.18%
Caesar	16	3.17%	Pseudo-Caesar	3	0.59%
Cato	5	0.99%	Pseudo – Cyprianus	2	0.40%
Cicero	52	10.30%	Pseudo – Quintilian	16	3.17%
Curtius	5	0.99%	Publilius	5	0.99%
Cyprianus	16	3.17%	Quintilian	17	3.37%
Diocletian	1	0.20%	Rutilius	2	0.40%
Florus	1	0.20%	Sallust	8	1.58%

Author	No.	Percentage	Author	No.	Percentage
Frontinus	1	0.20%	Seneca the Elder	19	3.76%
Fronto	1	0.20%	Seneca the Younger	70	13.86%
Gracchus	1	0.20%	Suetonius	16	3.17%
Horace	1	0.20%	Tacitus	43	8.51%
Hyginus	3	0.59%	Terence	12	2.38%
Incertus panegyrici auctor	1	0.20%	Tertullian	29	5.74%
Inscriptions	5	0.99%	Tiro	1	0.20%
Laberius	1	0.20%	Trogus	2	0.40%
Livy	35	6.93%	Valerius Maximus	11	2.18%
Metellus	1	0.20%	Velleius Paterculus	4	0.79%
Nepos	1	0.20%	Verrius	1	0.20%

2 General Tabulation

	OVERALL
	Entire sample	Percentage of overall total
TOTAL OCCURENCES	505
Singular or Plural?
Singular	350	69.31%
Plural	155	30.69%
Direct Object
TOTAL	193	38.22%
Singular	128	25.35%
Plural	65	12.87%
Tolerating	41	8.12%
ferre	24	4.75%
pati	13	2.57%
Doing	44	8.71%
facere	23	4.55%
Speaking	24	4.75%
		0.00%
Concretised
TOTAL	77	15.25%
Singular	5	0.99%
Plural	2	0.40%
verbal abuse	44	8.71%
Singular	18	3.56%
Plural	26	5.15%
physical harm	34	6.73%
Singular	18	3.56%
Plural	16	3.17%
Sexual contumelia
Generally sexual	18	3.56%
Rape	9	1.78%
Purpose Constructions
TOTAL	49	9.70%
contumeliae causa	12	2.38%
ad contumeliam	9	1.78%
ex contumelia	2	0.40%
per contumeliam	9	1.78%
in contumeliam
in contumeliam	14	2.77%
in contumelias	3	0.59%
cum contumelia
TOTAL	13	2.57%
Singular	10	1.98%
Plural	3	0.59%
understood as contumelia
TOTAL	20	3.96%
Ablative Uses
Cause of mental affliction	30	5.94%
motus + contumelia	8	1.58%
Tool for inflicting injury	34	6.73%
afficere + contumelia	7	1.39%
Genitive
TOTAL	86	17.03%
Subjective genitive	25	4.95%
Singular	11	2.18%
Plural	14	2.77%
Objective genitive	61	12.08%
Singular	51	10.10%
Plural	10	1.98%
Appears with iniuria
TOTAL	54	10.69%
indistinguishable from iniuria	33	6.53%
uncertain relationship	12	2.38%
less serious than iniuria	5	0.99%
worse than iniuria	4	0.79%
Contumelia alicui
TOTAL	33	6.53%
Singular	27	5.35%
Plural	6	1.19%

Appendix B: Tabulation of Juristic uses of contumelia, 2^nd century BCE–3^rd century CE^{^[223)]}

1 Relative Frequencies

Author	No.	Percentage of total
DIGEST	29	82.86%
Ulpian	20	57.14%
Labeo (cited by Ulpian)	3	8.57%
Paul	2	5.71%
Modestinus	1	2.86%
Julian	1	2.86%
Pomponius	2	5.71%
Papinian	3	8.57%

COLLATIO	2	5.71%
Paul	2	5.71%

PAULI SENTENTIAE	3	8.57%
GAIUS INSTITUTES	1	2.86%

2 General Tabulation

		Percentage of overall total
TOTAL OCCURENCES	35
Singular or Plural?		Percentage of Juristic Total
Singular	32	91.43%
Plural	3	8.57%
Direct Object
TOTAL	7	20.00%
Singular	2	5.71%
Plural	5	14.29%
Tolerating	0	0.00%
ferre	0	0.00%
pati	0	0.00%
Doing	5	14.29%
facere	5	14.29%
Speaking		0.00%
		0.00%
Concretised
TOTAL	2	5.71%
Singular	2	5.71%
Plural	0	0.00%
verbal abuse	1	2.86%
Singular	1	2.86%
Plural	0	0.00%
physical harm	0	0.00%
Singular	0	0.00%
Plural	0	0.00%
Sexual contumelia		0.00%
Generally sexual	3	9.38%
Rape	0	0.00%
Purpose Constructions
TOTAL	9	25.71%
contumeliae causa	4	11.43%
ad contumeliam	0	0.00%
ex contumelia	0	0.00%
per contumeliam	0	0.00%
in contumeliam
in contumeliam	5	14.29%
in contumelias	0	0.00%
cum contumelia
TOTAL		0.00%
Singular		0.00%
Plural		0.00%
understood as contumelia
TOTAL		0.00%
Ablative Uses
Cause of mental affliction	1	2.86%
motus + contumelia	0	0.00%
Tool for inflicting iniury	0	0.00%
afficere + contumelia	3	9.38%
Genitive
TOTAL	6	17.14%
Subjective genitive	2	5.71%
Singular	2	5.71%
Plural	0	0.00%
Objective genitive	4	11.43%
Singular	4	11.43%
Plural	0	0.00%
Appears with iniuria
TOTAL	13	37.14%
indistinguishable from iniuria	2	5.71%
uncertain relationship	0	0.00%
less serious than iniuria	0	0.00%
worse than iniuria	0	0.00%
component of actio iniuriarim	11	31.43%

Appendix C: Tanslations of ὕβρις in the Vetus Latina Bible^{^[224)]}

OVERALL
Total appearances of ὕβρις	61
Total occasions of ὕβρις that have been translated	49
Total number of different translations (some texts have more than one)	73
How many different surviving translations per text?
Texts with one surviving translation	27	55.10%
Texts with two surviving translations	20	40.82%
Texts with three surviving translations	2	4.08%
TOTAL	49
Translations
contumelia	26	35.62%
iniuria	26	35.62%
superbia	18	24.66%
gloria	2	2.74%
Superbia appears an alternative to iniuria or contumelia (e.g. superbia vel iniuria)
iniuria	4	5.48%
contumelia	2	2.74%
TOTAL	6	8.22%
Contumelia and iniuria are offered as an interchangeable pair
10	13.70%
CONCRETISED
Total instances of concrete ὕβρις	9	12.33%
Translated with contumelia	3	4.11%
Translated with iniuria	9	12.33%

Published Online: 2023-06-30

Published in Print: 2023-06-27

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/zrgr-2023-0004

Keywords for this article

iniuria; contumelia; delict; hubris; Ulpian

IV. Nascitur ex contumelia: What did contumelia in the actio iniuriarum really mean?

Article

Summary

Appendices[221)]

Appendix A: Tabulation of contumelia, 2nd century BCE–3rd century CE[222)]

1 Relative Frequencies

2 General Tabulation

Appendix B: Tabulation of Juristic uses of contumelia, 2nd century BCE–3rd century CE[223)]

1 Relative Frequencies

2 General Tabulation

Appendix C: Tanslations of ὕβρις in the Vetus Latina Bible[224)]

Articles in the same Issue

Articles in the same Issue

Articles in the same Issue

Appendices^{^[221)]}

Appendix A: Tabulation of contumelia, 2^nd century BCE–3^rd century CE^{^[222)]}

Appendix B: Tabulation of Juristic uses of contumelia, 2^nd century BCE–3^rd century CE^{^[223)]}

Appendix C: Tanslations of ὕβρις in the Vetus Latina Bible^{^[224)]}