Frontinus: OPUSCULA RERUM RUSTICARUM

Materiae controversiarum sunt duae, finis et locus. Harum alterutra continetur quidquid ex agro disconvenit. sed quoniam in his quoque partibus singulae controversiae diversas habent condiciones, proprie sunt nominandae.

The materials of controversies are two, boundary and place. In either of these is contained whatever disagrees concerning the field. But since in these parts likewise the several controversies have diverse conditions, they must be properly named.

Vt potui ergo conprehendere, genera sunt controversiarum XV: de positione terminorum, de rigore, de fine, de loco, de modo, de proprietate, de possessione, de alluvione, de iure territorii, de subsicivis, de locis publicis, de locis sacris et religiosis, de aqua pluvia arcenda, de itineribus.

As I could therefore comprehend, there are 15 kinds of controversies: concerning the position of boundaries, concerning rigor, concerning the limit, concerning place, concerning manner, concerning proprietorship, concerning possession, concerning alluvion, concerning the right of territory, concerning subsicivae, concerning public places, concerning sacred and religious places, concerning the warding off of rainwater, concerning roads.

De positione terminorum controversia est inter duos pluresve vicinos: inter duos, an rigore sit ceterorum sive ratione[s]; inter plures, trifinium faciat an quadrifinium. de horum <posit>ione cum constitit mensori, si secundum proximi temporis possessionem non conveniunt, diversas attiguis possessoribus faciunt controversias, et ab integro alius forte de loco alius de fine litigat.

A controversy about the position of termini is between two or more neighbors: between two, whether it is by the rigour of the others or by reason(s); among several, whether it makes a trifinium or a quadrifinium. When the mensor has fixed the <posit>ione of these, if they do not agree according to the possession of the most recent time, the adjacent possessors make diverse controversies, and anew one perhaps litigates about the place, another about the limit.

De rigore controversia est finitimae condicionis, quotiens inter duos pluresve terminos ordinatos sive quae alia signa secundum legem Mamiliam intra quinque pedes agitur.

On the rigour: the dispute concerns the neighboring condition, whenever it is litigated between two or more established boundaries or whatever other signs, according to the Mamilian law, within five feet.

De fine similis est controversia [nec dubium est quin supra de finis condicione dixerim]; nam et eadem lege continetur et de quinque pedum agitur latitudin<e>, sed de fine, quidquid per flexus, quibus arcifinii agri continentur, ut per extrema <a>rui aut promuntoria aut summa montium aut fluminum cursus aut locorum natura<m> a<g>i<tur> quam supercilium appellant. De loco controversia est, quidquid excedit supra scriptam latitudinem, cuius modus a[d] p<e>tente[m] non proponitur. Haec autem controversia frequenter in arcifiniis agris variorum signorum demonstrationibus exercetur, ut fossis, fluminibus, arboribus ante missis, aut culturae discrimine.

The controversy concerning the end is similar [and there is no doubt that above I have spoken of the condition of boundaries]; for it is contained in the same law, and the matter of the five-foot latitude is at issue, but concerning the finis, whatever is determined by the flexus by which the arcifinii of a field are contained, as is treated by the extrema of a shore or promontories or the summits of mountains or the courses of rivers or the nature of places, which they call supercilium. Concerning the locus the controversy is whatever exceeds the written latitude, whose measure is not set forth by the petitioner. This controversy, moreover, is frequently exercised in boundary-fields by demonstrations of various signs, as by ditches, rivers, trees previously planted, or by the distinction of cultivation.

De modo controversia est in agro adsignato: agitur enim de antiquorum nominum propria defensione; ut si L. Titius dextra decimanum tertium, citra cardinem quartum, acceperit sortis suae partes tres sive quod huic simile, quartam habeat in quacumque proxima centuria: huic enim universitati limes finem non facit, etiam si publico itineri serviat. - Nam et in ceteris agris de modo fit controversia, quotiens [re]promissioni modus non quadrat.

On the mode there is a controversy in an assigned field: for the question is about the proper defence of ancient names; as, if L. Titius on the right received the decimanum tertium, and, on this side of the cardinem, the fourth, having taken three parts of his lot or something like that, let him have the fourth in whichever nearest centuria: for to that universitas the limes does not put an end, even if it serves a public way. - For likewise in other fields a controversy about the mode arises whenever the measure does not square with the re‑promise.

De proprietate controversia est plerumque, <quom> ut in Campania cultorum agrorum silvae absunt in montibus ultra quartum aut quintum forte vicinum. Propterea proprietas ad quos fundos pertinere debeat dis<p>ut[i]atur. Est et pascuorum proprietas pertinens ad fundos, sed in commune; propter quod ea conpascua multis locis in Italia communia appellantur, quibusdam provinciis pro indiviso. -

On property there is commonly controversy, as when, for example, in Campania the woods of tilled fields are absent on the mountains beyond the fourth or perhaps fifth neighbouring centuria. Therefore the question of to which farms the property should pertain must be disputed. There is also ownership of pastures pertaining to farms, but held in common; for this reason those conpascua in many places in Italy are called communia, and in some provinces pro indiviso.

Nam et per hereditates aut emptiones eius generis controversiae fiunt, de quibus iure ordinario litigatur. De possessione controversia est, de qua ad interdictum, hoc est iure ordinario, litigatur.

For controversies likewise arise through inheritances or purchases of that sort, concerning which one litigates in the ordinary law. There is a controversy about possession, concerning which one litigates by interdict, that is, by the ordinary law.

De alluvione fit controversia fluminum infestatione. Haec <autem> multas habet condiciones.

A controversy about inundation arises from the infestation of rivers. This <autem> has many conditions.

De iure territorii controversia est de <his> quae ad ipsam urbem pertinen<t>, [sive quod intra pomerium eius urbis erit, quod a privatis operibus optineri non oportebit. Eum dico locum quem nec ordo nullo iure a publico poterit amovere]. Habet autem condiciones duas, unam urbani soli, alteram agrestis, quod in tutelam rei fuerit adsignatum urbanae; [urbani quod operibus publicis datum fuerit aut destinatum]. Huius soli ius quamvis habita <o>ratione divus Augustus de statu municipiorum tractaverit, in proximas urbes pervenire dicitur, quarum ex voluntate conditoris maxima pars finium coloniae est adtributa, aliqua portio moenium extremae perticae adsignatione inclusa; sicut in Piceno fertur Inter<a>m<na>tium Prae<t>uttianorum quandam oppidi partem Asculanorum fine circum dari. [Quod si ad haec revertamur, hoc conciliabulum fuisse fertur et postea in municipii ius relatum]. - Nam non omnia antiqua municipia habent suum privilegium.

On the law of territory: the controversy concerns <these> things which pertain to the city itself, [that is whether it will be within the pomerium of that city, so that it ought not to be obtained by private works. I mean that place which by no order or right can be removed from the public]. It has, however, two conditions, one of urban soil, the other of rural, that which has been assigned to the protection of the thing to the urban; [urban, that which has been given or destined for public works]. The right of this soil, although the divine Augustus treated the state of the municipia with a studied speech, is said to extend into neighbouring towns, of which by the will of the founder the great part of the colony’s limits is allotted, some portion of the walls enclosed by assignment to the outer peg; as in Picenum it is reported that a part of the town of Interamna Praetuttiorum was given within the boundary of the Asculans. [Which if we return to these matters, that gathering-place is said to have been and afterwards restored into the right of the municipium]. — For not all ancient municipia have their own privilege.

[Quidquid enim ad coloniae municipiive privilegium pertinet, territorii iuris appellant. Sed si rationem appellationis huius tractemus, territorium est quidquid hostis terrendi causa constitutum est].

[For whatever pertains to the privilege of a colony or municipality they call the ius of the territory. But if we treat the reason of this appellation, territory is whatever has been established for the purpose of terrifying an enemy].

De subsicivis controversia est, quotiens aliqua pars centuriae sive tota non est adsignata et possidetur. Aut quidquid de extremitate perticae possessor proximus aliusve detinebit, ad subsicivorum controversiam pertinebit.

On the subsicivae controversy: it arises when any part of a centuria, or the whole, is not assigned and is possessed. Whatever of the extremity of the pertica the nearest possessor or any other detains shall pertain to the controversy of the subsicivae.

De locis publicis sive populi Romani sive coloniarum municipiorumve controversia est, quotiens ea loca, quae neque adsignata neque vendita fuerint <um>quam, aliquis possederit; ut alveum fluminis veterem populi Romani, quem vis aquae interposita insula <exclusae> proximi possessoris finibus reliquerit; aut silvas, quas ad populum Romanum multis locis pertinere ex veteribus instrumentis cognoscimus, ut ex proximo in Sabinis in monte Mutela. Nam et coloniarum aut municipiorum similis est condicio, quotiens loca, quae rei publicae data adsignata fuerint, ab aliis obtinebuntur, ut subsiciva concessa.

On public places, whether of the Roman people or of colonies or of municipia, there is a controversy whenever those places which have been neither assigned nor sold <um>quam are possessed by anyone; for example, the ancient bed of a river of the Roman people, which the force of the water, with an intervening island <exclusae>, has left within the boundaries of the nearest possessor; or woods which by ancient instruments we recognize in many places as belonging to the Roman people, as for example nearby in the Sabines on Mount Mutela. For the condition of colonies or municipia is similar whenever places that have been given or assigned to the res publica are held by others, as when subsiciva are conceded.

De locis relictis et extraclusis controversia est in agris adsignatis. Relicta autem loca sunt, quae sive locorum iniquitate sive arbitrio conditoris [relicta] limites non acceperunt. Haec sunt iuris subsicivorum.

On places left and extraclosed there is controversy in fields assigned. The left places, however, are those places which, either by the inequality of the sites or by the will of the founder (relicta), did not receive boundary limits. These pertain to the law of subsicivae.

Extraclusa loca sunt aeque iuris subsicivorum, quae ultra limites et <in>tra finitimam lineam erint; finitima autem linea aut mensuralis est aut aliqua observatione aut terminorum ordine servatur. Multis enim locis adsignationi agrorum inmanitas superfuit, sicut in Lusitania finibus Augustinorum.

Extraclusa places are likewise of the law of subsiciva, which lie beyond the limits and within the neighboring line; the neighboring line, however, is either mensural (measured) or is kept by some observation or by the order of boundaries. For in many places a rigor prevailed in the assignment of fields, as in the Lusitanian bounds of the Augustinians.

De locis sacris et religiosis controversiae plurimae nascuntur, quae iure ordinario finiuntur, nisi si de locorum eorum modo agitur; ut l<u>corum publicorum in montibus aut aedium, quibus secundum instrumentum fines restituuntur; similiter locorum religiosorum, quibus secundum cautiones modus est restituendus. Habe<nt> enim et moesilea iuris sui hortorum modos circum iacentes aut praescriptum agri finem.

Many disputes arise concerning sacred and religious places, which are decided by the ordinary law, unless the manner of those places is at issue; as of the lcorum publicorum on mountains or of buildings whose boundaries are restored according to an instrument; likewise of religious places, the mode of restoration of which is according to safeguards. For they also have, and possess, the measures of their own right — the bounds of gardens lying around them or the prescribed limit of a field.

De aquae pluviae transitu controversia est, in qua si collectus pluvialis aquae transversum secans finem in alterius fundum influit, et disconvenit, ad ius ordinarium pertinebit: quod si per ordinationem finis ipsius agitur, exigit mensoris interventum [et controversia tollitur].

There is a controversy concerning the transit of rainwater, in which, if a collected rainwater, cutting across, pours its end into another’s fundus, and it is adverse, it will pertain to ordinary law: but if the matter is about the ordination of that boundary, it demands the surveyor’s intervention [and the controversy is removed].

De itineribus controversia est quae in arcifiniis agris iure ordinario finitur, in assignatis mensurarum ratione. Omnes enim limites secundum legem colonicam itineri publico servire debent: sed multi exigent<e> ratione per <cl>ivia et confragosa loca eunt, qua iter fieri non potest, et sunt in usu agrorum eorum locorum, ubi proximus possessor [est], cuius forte silva limitem detinet, transitum inverecunde denegat, cum itineri limitem aut locum limitis debeat.

Concerning ways there is a controversy which in fields adjoining boundaries is decided by ordinary law, in the manner of assigned measurements. For all boundaries according to colonic law ought to serve a public way: but many will demand, by reason that they go through <cl>ivia and cragged places where a way cannot be made, and they are in the use of the fields of those places where the nearest possessor is, whose wood perhaps holds the boundary, shamelessly denies passage, since to the way the boundary or the place of the boundary ought to belong.

Est et controversiae genus quod ad solum non pertinet, de arborum fructibus, earum quae in fine sunt sive intra, nec ullam ad radicem habent controversiam, quotiens inclinatae in alterutram partem fructum iactaverunt, inter adfines mo<u>ent disputationem.

There is also a kind of controversy which does not pertain to the soil, concerning the fruits of trees, those which are on the boundary or within, and have no controversy at the root, whenever, being inclined to one side or the other, they have cast fruit, they moent dispute between the neighbours.