Ad legem Iuliam peculatus et de sacrilegis et de residuis
(Concerning the Julian law relating to peculation, sacrilege, and balances.)
1 Ulpianus libro quadragensimo quarto ad Sabinum. Lege Iulia peculatus cavetur, ne quis ex pecunia sacra religiosa publicave auferat neve intercipiat neve in rem suam vertat neve faciat, quo quis auferat intercipiat vel in rem suam vertat, nisi cui utique lege licebit: neve quis in aurum argentum aes publicum quid indat neve immisceat neve quo quid indatur immisceatur faciat sciens dolo malo, quo id peius fiat.
1 Ulpianus, On Sabinus, Book XLIV. It is provided by the Julian Law on Peculation, that: “No one shall intercept, or appropriate for his own use, or do anything, by means of which another can remove, intercept, or employ for his own benefit, any money derived from sacred, religious, or public sources, unless he is authorized to do so by law; and no one shall add to, or mix anything with, gold, silver, or copper belonging to the government; or knowingly and fraudulently commit any act by means of which anything may be added to, or mixed with, the same, through which its value may be diminished.”
2 Paulus libro undecimo ad Sabinum. Lege Iulia de residuis tenetur, qui publicam pecuniam delegatam in usum aliquem retinuit neque in eum consumpsit.
2 Paulus, On Sabinus, Book XI. He is liable under the Julian Law relating to Balances who retains any public money destined for a certain use, and does not employ it for that purpose.
3 Ulpianus libro primo de adulteriis. Peculatus poena aquae et ignis interdictionem, in quam hodie successit deportatio, continet. porro qui in eum statum deducitur, sicut omnia pristina iura, ita et bona amittit.
3 Ulpianus, On Adultery, Book I. The penalty for peculation originally was the interdiction of water and fire, for which, at present, deportation has been substituted. Moreover, anyone who is placed in this position loses not only all his former rights but also his property.
4 Marcianus libro quarto decimo institutionum. Lege Iulia peculatus tenetur, qui pecuniam sacram religiosam abstulerit interceperit. 1Sed et si donatum deo immortali abstulerit, peculatus poena tenetur. 2Mandatis autem cavetur de sacrilegiis, ut praesides sacrilegos latrones plagiarios conquirant et ut, prout quisque deliquerit, in eum animadvertant. et sic constitutionibus cavetur, ut sacrilegi extra ordinem digna poena puniantur.
4 Marcianus, Institutes, Book XIV. He is liable under the Julian Law relating to Peculation who removes or appropriates any money destined for sacred or religious purposes. 1He is also liable to the penalty for peculation who abstracts anything which has been donated to Immortal God. 2Moreover, it is provided by the Imperial Mandates relating to sacrilege that the Governors of provinces shall search for all sacrilegious persons, robbers, and kidnappers, and punish them according to the gravity of their offences; and it is provided by the Imperial Constitutions that sacrilege shall be punished arbitrarily, by a penalty proportioned to the crime.
5 Idem libro quarto decimo. Lege Iulia de residuis tenetur is, apud quem ex locatione, emptione, alimentaria ratione, ex pecunia quam accepit aliave qua causa pecunia publica resedit. 1Sed et qui publicam pecuniam in usu aliquo acceptam retinuerit nec erogaverit, hac lege tenetur. 2Qua lege damnatus amplius tertia parte quam debet punitur. 3Non fit locus religiosus, ubi thensaurus invenitur: nam et si in monumento inventus fuerit, non quasi religiosus tollitur. quod enim sepelire quis prohibetur, id religiosum facere non potest: at pecunia sepeliri non potest, ut et mandatis principalibus cavetur. 4Sed et si de re civitatis aliquid subripiat, constitutionibus principum divorum Traiani et Hadriani cavetur peculatus crimen committi: et hoc iure utimur.
5 Marcianus, Book XIV. He is liable under the Julian Law relating to Balances who retains in his hands any public money received from leases or purchases, the disposal of provisions or of anything else. 1Moreover, he who has received public money destined for any purpose, and retains it, and does not employ it for that purpose, is liable under this law. 2Anyone convicted under this law is punishable by a fine of a third more than what he owes. 3A place does not become religious in which a treasure is found; for, even though it may be found in a tomb, it is not seized as being religious. For what anyone is forbidden to inter cannot render a place religious, and money cannot be buried, as is provided by the Imperial Mandates, 4But when any public property is stolen, it is provided by the Constitutions of the Emperors Trajan and Hadrian that the crime of peculation is committed. This is the present practice.
6 Idem libro quinto regularum. Divi Severus et Antoninus Cassio festo rescripserunt, res privatorum si in aedem sacram depositae subreptae fuerint, furti actionem, non sacrilegii esse.
6 The Same, Rides, Book IV. The Divine Severus and Antoninus stated in a Rescript addressed to Cassius Festus that if the property of private individuals deposited in a temple should be stolen, an action for theft, and not one for sacrilege should be brought.
7 Ulpianus libro septimo de officio proconsulis. Sacrilegii poenam debebit proconsul pro qualitate personae proque rei condicione et temporis et aetatis et sexus vel severius vel clementius statuere. et scio multos et ad bestias damnasse sacrilegos, nonnullos etiam vivos exussisse, alios vero in furca suspendisse. sed moderanda poena est usque ad bestiarum damnationem eorum, qui manu facta templum effregerunt et dona dei in noctu tulerunt. ceterum si qui interdiu modicum aliquid de templo tulit, poena metalli coercendus est, aut, si honestiore loco natus sit, deportandus in insulam est.
7 Ulpianus, On the Duties of Proconsul, Book VII. The Proconsul should inflict the penalty for sacrilege either with greater or less severity or clemency, in accordance with the rank and condition of the culprit, taking into consideration the time, as well as his or her age and sex. I know that several magistrates have sentenced persons guilty of sacrilege to be thrown to wild beasts, others to be burned alive, and still others to be hanged on a gallows. The penalty, however, should be regulated by having those thrown to wild beasts who, with an armed band, have broken into a temple, and carried away the gifts of the gods by night; but where a person takes something of trifling value from a temple, he should be punished by being sentenced to the mines, or if he was born in a superior position, he should be deported to an island.
8 Idem libro eodem. Qui, cum in moneta publica operarentur, extrinsecus sibi signant pecuniam forma publica vel signatam furantur, hi non videntur adulterinam monetam exercuisse, sed furtum publicae monetae fecisse, quod ad peculatus crimen accedit. 1Si quis ex metallis Caesarianis aurum argentumve furatus fuerit, ex edicto divi Pii exilio vel metallo, prout dignitas personae, punitur. is autem, qui furanti sinum praebuit, perinde habetur, atque si manifesti furti condemnatus esset, et famosus efficitur. qui autem aurum ex metallo habuerit illicite et conflaverit, in quadruplum condemnatur.
8 The Same, In the Same Book. Those who make public money, or stamp it with a public die, and manufacture it for themselves outside of the mint, or steal it after it has been stamped, are not considered to have counterfeited it, but as having committed a theft of the common coin which resembles the crime of peculation. 1If anyone should steal any gold or silver belonging to the State, he shall, according to an Edict of the Divine Pius, be punished with exile, or sentenced to the mines according to his rank. Anyone who lends his stamp to a thief is considered to have been convicted of manifest theft, and becomes infamous. He who has unlawfully extracted gold from a mine, and melted it, is condemned to quadruple damages.
9 Venuleius Saturninus libro secundo iudiciorum publicorum. Peculatus crimen ante quinquennium admissum obici non oportet.
9 Venuleius Saturninus, Public Prosecutions, Book II. The crime of peculation cannot be prosecuted after the lapse of five years.
10 Idem ex libro tertio iudiciorum publicorum. Qui tabulam aeream legis formamve agrorum aut quid aliud continentem refixerit vel quid inde immutaverit, lege Iulia peculatus tenetur. 1Eadem lege tenetur, qui quid in tabulis publicis deleverit vel induxerit.
10 The Same, Public Prosecutions, Book III. Anyone who removes the brazen tablet of the law containing the boundaries of fields or anything else, or changes it in any way, is liable under the Julian Law relating to Peculation. 1He who erases anything from the public registers, or inserts anything therein, is liable under this law.
11 Paulus libro singulari de iudiciis publicis. Sacrilegi capite puniuntur. 1Sunt autem sacrilegi, qui publica sacra compilaverunt. at qui privata sacra vel aediculas incustoditas temptaverunt, amplius quam fures, minus quam sacrilegi merentur. quare quod sacrum quodve admissum in sacrilegii crimen cadat, diligenter considerandum est. 2Labeo libro trigensimo octavo posteriorum peculatum definit pecuniae publicae aut sacrae furtum non ab eo factum, cuius periculo fuit, et ideo aedituum in his, quae ei tradita sunt, peculatum non admittere. 3Eodem capite inferius scribit non solum pecuniam publicam, sed etiam privatam crimen peculatus facere, si quis quod fisco debetur simulans se fisci creditorem accepit, quamvis privatam pecuniam abstulerit. 4Is autem, qui pecuniam traiciendam suscepit vel quilibet alius, ad cuius periculum pecunia pertinet, peculatum non committit. 5Senatus iussit lege peculatus teneri eos, qui iniussu eius, qui ei rei praeerit, tabularum publicarum inspiciendarum describendarumque potestatem fecerint. 6Eum, qui pecuniam publicam in usus aliquos retinuerit nec erogaverit, hac lege teneri Labeo libro trigensimo octavo posteriorum scripsit. cum eo autem, qui, cum provincia abiret, pecuniam, quae penes se esset, ad aerarium professus retinuerit, non esse residuae pecuniae actionem, quia eam privatus fisco debeat, et ideo inter debitores eum ferri: eamque ab eo is, qui hoc imperio utitur, exigeret, id est pignus capiendo, corpus retinendo, multam dicendo. sed eam quoque lex Iulia residuorum post annum residuam esse iussit.
11 Paulus, On Public Prosecutions. Persons convicted of sacrilege shall be punished with death. 1Persons guilty of sacrilege are such as purloin sacred articles belonging to the public. Those who appropriate sacred property belonging to persons, or chapels which are unguarded, deserve a more severe penalty than thieves, and a less severe one than sacrilegious persons. Therefore, careful consideration should be given to what is sacred, and to any acts which may be included in the crime of sacrilege. 2Labeo, in the Thirty-eighth Book of his Last Works, defines peculation to be the theft of public or sacred money, not made by him at whose risk it was at the time; and therefore the guardian of a temple, to whom property of this kind has been entrusted, does not commit peculation. 3In the same chapter, lower down, he says that not only the appropriation of public money, but also that of money belonging to private individuals, constitutes the offence of peculation, when anyone receives funds due to the Treasury pretending that he is the creditor of the latter; even though he may have taken, as his own, money belonging to a private person. 4He, also, who receives money for the purpose of transportation, or anyone else who assumes responsibility for money, does not commit peculation. 5The Senate ordered that those should be liable under the law against peculation who, without the order of the official in charge, permitted the examination and copying of public registers. 6He, also, who retains any public money destined for a certain use and does not employ it for that purpose is liable under this law; so Labeo says in the Thirty-eighth Book of his Last Works. Anyone who, departing from the province where he has held office, renders an account to the Treasury of the money remaining in his hands, and holds it, is not liable to an action to recover the balance, for the reason that he is a private individual indebted to the Treasury, and therefore should be classed among debtors; and he who is invested with authority can collect it from him, either by seizing his property, arresting him, or imposing a fine; but the Julian Law orders that, after the lapse of a year, this money shall be classed as a balance due.
12 Marcianus libro primo iudiciorum publicorum. Hac lege tenetur, qui in tabulis publicis minorem pecuniam, quam quid venierit aut locaverit, scripserit aliudve quid simile commiserit. 1Divus Severus et Antoninus quendam clarissimum iuvenem, cum inventus esset arculam in templum ponere ibique hominem includere, qui post clusum templum de arca exiret et de templo multa subtraheret et se in arculam iterum referret, convictum in insulam deportaverunt.
12 Marcianus, Public Prosecutions, Book I. He is liable under this law who enters upon the public registers a smaller amount than the proceeds of a sale or a lease, or who commits any other offence of this kind. 1The Divine Severus and Antoninus, having ascertained that a young man of very illustrious lineage had a small chest placed in a temple, and, after the temple was closed, emerged out of the chest and stole many things belonging to the temple, and afterwards again shut himself up in the chest, deported him to an island, after his conviction.
13 Ulpianus libro sexagensimo octavo ad edictum. Qui perforaverit muros vel inde aliquid abstulerit, peculatus actione tenetur.
13 Ulpianus, On the Edict, Book LXVIII. Anyone who perforates the wall of a temple, or steals anything by this means, is liable to the action for peculation.
14 Marcellus libro vicensimo quinto digestorum. Peculatus nequaquam committitur, si exigam ab eo pecuniam, qui et mihi et fisco debet: non enim pecunia fisci intercipitur, quae debitori eius aufertur, scilicet quia manet debitor fisci nihilo minus.
14 Marcellus, Digest, Book XXV. I am by no means guilty of peculation if I collect money from someone who is indebted to me as well as to the Treasury; for the money which I receive from the debtor of the Treasury is not misappropriated by me, because he still remains indebted to the Treasury.
15 Modestinus libro secundo de poenis. Is, qui praedam ab hostibus captam subripuit, lege peculatus tenetur et in quadruplum damnatur.
15 Modestinus, On Punishments, Book II. He who steals booty taken from the enemy is liable under the law relating to peculation, and shall be sentenced to pay quadruple damages.
16 Papinianus libro trigensimo sexto quaestionum. Publica iudicia peculatus et de residuis et repetundarum similiter adversus heredem exercentur, nec inmerito, cum in his quaestio principalis ablatae pecuniae moveatur.
16 Papinianus, Questions, Book XXXVI. Public prosecutions for peculation, as well as those for appropriating balances, and for extortion, can also be brought against an heir; and this is not unreasonable, as the principle question involved has reference to the stolen money.