ABSTRACT
As elaborated in Chapter 3, the earliest form of civil procedure in Roman law was the legis actio, so called because the only actions allowed were those created by statutes (leges), or closely adapted to the language of statutes by the pontiffs. Under the changed socio-economic conditions of the late Republic, the legis actio system gradually fell into disfavour. This mainly derived from its exaggerated formalism and the prominence of a new and more flexible system: the formulary (per formulam) procedure. The formulary procedure was probably first introduced by the praetor peregrinus as a way of dealing with disputes involving foreigners. Its application was subsequently extended to cases where both parties to a dispute were Roman citizens and the legis actiones were not available under the lex Aebutia passed in the second century BC. The reform of civil procedure was completed by the leges Iuliae iudiciorum publicorum et privatorum of Augustus in 17-16 BC.1 One of these laws abolished the legis actio procedure, except in cases that fell within the jurisdiction of the centumviral court and in certain cases involving a threat of damage to another person’s property (damnum infectum).2
