Note 704 — Chapter IV · THE MAGISTRACY

Liv. x. 9 “cum eum qui provocasset virgis caedi securique necari vetuisset, si quis adversus ea fecisset, nihil ultra quam improbe factum adjecit.” The meaning of this sanction has been much disputed: it may mean “incapable of making a will,” on the analogy of “improbus (i.e. qui probare non potest) intestabilisque esto.” Mommsen (Strafrecht p. 632) takes the expression to mean that the act of the magistrate would be regarded as “unjustified,” i.e. as an ordinary criminal offence.