Rapacious hands

Constantine’s legislation can be brutal and his rhetoric scathing. Not infrequently, though, the invective and brutality are directed at the powerful in defense of the weak. He decreed that the hands of greedy civil servants and judges would be removed, but what’s most interesting is the crime that provokes this penalty:

“ The rapacious hands of the apparitors shall immediately cease, they shall cease, I say; for if after due warning they do not cease, they shall be cut off by the sword. The chamber curtain of the judge shall not be venal; entance shall not be gained by purchase, the private council chamber shall not be infamous on account of the bids. The appearance of the governor shall not be at a price; the ears of the judge shall be open equally to the poorest as well as to the rich . . . .

“There shall be no despoiling on the occasion of escorting the persons inside by the one who is called chief of the office staff. The assistants of the aforementioned chiefs of office staff shall employ no extortion on litigants; the intolerable onslaught of the centurions and other apparitors who demand small and great sums shall be crushed; and the unsated greed of those who deliver the recorfds of a case to litigants shall be restrained” ( Theodosian Code 1.16.7).

He adds that if anything unjust is taken from those who are involved in a civil case, “armed punishment will be at hand, which will cut off the heads and necks of the scoundrels.” The “Interpretation” appended by medieval jurists gives this a theological spin: “litigants, both rich and poor, shall be heard without a price.” If apparitors are greedy, they will be punished, “or at least the story of their greed shall be carried to the ears of Our Lord.” Constantine doesn’t mention the Lord, but he is definitely following Mosaic precedent in demanding equity for rich and poor alike.

The Latin reads: “Cessent iam nunc rapaces officialium manus, cessent inquam: nam si moniti non cessaverint, gladiis praecidentur. non sit venale iudicis velum, non ingressus redempti, non infame licitationibus secretarium, non visio ipsa praesidis cum pretio: aeque aures iudicantis pauperrimis ac divitibus reserentur. absit ab inducendo eius, qui officii princeps dicitur, depraedatio. nullas litigatoribus adiutores eorundem officii principum concussiones adhibeant; centurionum aliorumque officialium, parva magnaque poscentium, intolerandi impetus oblidantur, eorumque, qui iurgantibus acta restituunt, inexpleta aviditas temperetur. semper invigilet industria praesidalis, ne quicquam a praedictis generibus hominum de litigatore sumatur. qui si de civilibus causis quicquam putaverint esse poscendum, aderit armata censura, quae nefariorum capita cervicesque detruncet, data copia universis, qui concussi fuerint, ut praesidum instruant notionem. qui si dissimulaverint, super eodem conquerendi vocem omnibus aperimus apud comites cunctos provinciarum aut apud praefectum praetorio, si magis fuerit in vicino, ut his referentibus edocti, super talibus latrociniis supplicia proferamus.”