De iure fisci et populi libri
Ex libro II
Dig. 49,14,2Idem libro secundo de iure fisci. Ex quibusdam causis delatione suscipientium fama non laeditur, veluti eorum, qui non praemii consequendi, item eorum, qui ulciscendi gratia adversarium suum deferunt, vel quod nomine rei publicae suae quis exsequitur causam: et haec ita observari plurifariam principalibus constitutionibus praecipitur. 1Divus Hadrianus Flavio Arriano in haec verba rescripsit: ‘Quin ei, qui instrumenta ad causam fisci pertinentia, cum possit exhibere, non exhibet, nocere debeat, si verum aliter non invenitur, ea subtracta esse credantur, quae nocitura causae eius fuerint, dubitatum non est. sed nec alias dubitari oportet, quin non in aliam rem nocere debeant, quam in eam qua desiderata sunt’. 2Item divi fratres ad libellum Cornelii Rufi rescripserunt totiens edenda esse instrumenta, quotiens de iure capiendi vel de iure dominii vel de aliqua causa simili re nummaria quaeratur, non si de capitali causa agatur. 3Senatus censuit, ut, si neque delator neque possessor tribus edictis evocati adfuerint, delatoris quidem fideiussores teneantur et ei postea publicam causam deferendi ius adimatur, possessoris autem ius idem esset, quod si delatus omnino non esset. 4Quotiens tamen delator adesse iussus cessat nec hoc fraude possessoris factum esse probabitur, divus Hadrianus rescripsit secundum possessorem pronuntiari oportere, ita ut sententia comprehendatur etiam delatores edicto id comprehendisse. 5Divus Pius Caecilio Maximo rescripsit constitutionem patris sui, qua compelleretur delator edere mandatorem ac, nisi edidisset, ut in vincula deduceretur, eo pertinere, non ut delator poena subduceretur, si mandatorem haberet, sed ut mandator quoque perinde atque si ipse detulisset puniretur. 6Imperator noster Severus Augustus constituit, ne servi delatores dominorum audiantur, sed ut poena coerceantur: libertos quoque causae mandatores contra patronos a praesidibus provinciarum poenae plectendos. 7Complura sunt rescripta principalia, quibus cavetur non obesse errorem cuiquam, quod ignotus iuris sui ipse se detulerit. sed extat eorundem principum rescriptum, ex quo videtur posse defendi ita demum non nocere cuiquam se detulisse, si ea persona sit, quae ignorare propter rusticitatem vel propter sexum femininum ius suum possit.
The Same, On the Rights of the Treasury, Book II. There are certain reasons for which the reputation of those who give information is not injured; for instance, when this is not done in order to obtain a reward, and where persons denounce an adversary for the purpose of avenging a wrong; or where anyone prosecuted the case in the name of a municipality; and it is to be observed that this has many times been set forth in the Imperial Constitutions. 1The Divine Hadrian stated in a Rescript addressed to Favius Arrianus: “There is no doubt that he injures his own case who, being able to introduce documents having reference to the case of the Treasury does not do so, when the truth cannot otherwise be ascertained, and the documents are suppressed because it is thought that they will injure his case. “But there is no question that the said documents will not injure any other case than the one in which their production is demanded.” 2In like manner, the Divine Brothers stated in a Rescript, in answer to the petition of Cornelius Rufus, that documents should be produced whenever an inquiry is made with reference to the right to receive property, or the right of ownership, or anything of this kind, in a pecuniary case, but not in one in which the death penalty is involved. 3The Senate decreed that, if neither the informer nor the possessor summoned by the three edicts should appear, the sureties of the informer will be liable; and he will be deprived of the right to bring an accusation afterwards in a public case, and the right of the possessor will remain the same as if he had not been denounced. 4Whenever an informer who has been ordered to appear fails to do so, and this is not proved to have been effected by the fraudulent conduct of the possessor, the Divine Hadrian stated in a Rescript that judgment should be rendered in favor of the latter, in such a way that it shall be mentioned therein that the informers are also included in the edict. 5The Divine Pius stated in a Rescript addressed to Cæcilius Maximus that the Constitution of his Father, by which an informer is required to give the name of his principal, and if he does not do so, he shall be placed in chains, does not cause the informer to be released from punishment, if he has a principal, but that the principal shall be punished, just as if he alone had made the denunciation. 6Our Emperor, Severus Augustus, decided that slaves who denounced their masters should not be heard, but should be punished; and also that freedmen who instigated other persons against their patrons should be punished by the Governors of provinces. 7Many Imperial Rescripts exist by which it is provided that no one is injured by a mistake, when, being ignorant of the law, he denounced himself. But there is also a Rescript of the same Emperor extant, by which it appears that it can be maintained that anyone who informs against himself will only not be injured in case he is such a person as can be ignorant of the law merely because of his rusticity, or where the person is a woman.
Dig. 49,14,23Callistratus libro secundo de iure fisci. De eo delatore, qui causam solus agere instituerat non habita mentione mandatoris, si postea desistat, praetendens mandatorem causae decessisse, puniendum divi fratres rescripserunt.
Callistratus, On the Rights of the Treasury, Book II. When an informer, who began proceedings alone without mentioning anyone as having directed him to do so, afterwards desists, giving as an excuse that the person who employed him has withdrawn, the Divine Brothers stated in a Rescript that he should be punished.