Sextus Pedius was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

jurist during the late first and early second centuries. He was a contemporary to the

Jurists

Aulus Ofilius Aulus Ofilius (Ofilius in Greek: ο Όφίλλιος, flourished 1st century BC) was a Roman jurist of Equestrian rank, who lived in the Roman Republic. He is named as a jurist by Pomponius. Ofilius was a friend to Roman statesman Marcus Tullius Cic ...

and

Massurius Sabinus Masurius Sabinus, also Massurius, was a ancient Rome, Roman jurist who lived in the time of Tiberius (reigned 14–37 AD). Unlike most jurists of the time, he was not of Roman senator, senatorial rank and was admitted to the equestrian order only r ...

, and also mentioned in the writings of

Pomponius The gens Pomponia was a plebs, plebeian family at ancient Rome. Its members appear throughout the history of the Roman Republic, and into Roman Empire, imperial times. The first of the gens to achieve prominence was Marcus Pomponius, tribune of ...

. Pedius' original ideas are only known from the quotations from the Roman jurists

Julius Paulus Julius Paulus ( el, Ἰούλιος Παῦλος; fl. 2nd century and 3rd century AD), often simply referred to as Paul in English, was one of the most influential and distinguished Roman jurists. He was also a praetorian prefect under the Rom ...

Ulpian Ulpian (; la, Gnaeus Domitius Annius Ulpianus; c. 170223? 228?) was a Roman jurist born in Tyre. He was considered one of the great legal authorities of his time and was one of the five jurists upon whom decisions were to be based according to ...

, and

Julian Julian may refer to: People * Julian (emperor) (331–363), Roman emperor from 361 to 363 * Julian (Rome), referring to the Roman gens Julia, with imperial dynasty offshoots * Saint Julian (disambiguation), several Christian saints * Julian (give ...

. These quotations have survived, although Pedius' original works were not directly incorporated into the ''

Digest Digest may refer to: Biology *Digestion of food *Restriction digest Literature and publications *''The Digest'', formerly the English and Empire Digest *Digest size magazine format * ''Digest'' (Roman law), also known as ''Pandects'', a digest ...

''. He was the author of extensive commentary on the edicts or proclamations concerning the

Praetorian Guard The Praetorian Guard (Latin: ''cohortēs praetōriae'') was a unit of the Imperial Roman army that served as personal bodyguards and intelligence agents for the Roman emperors. During the Roman Republic, the Praetorian Guard were an escort fo ...

and the

aedile ''Aedile'' ( ; la, aedīlis , from , "temple edifice") was an elected office of the Roman Republic. Based in Rome, the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings () and regulation of public festivals. They also had powers to enf ...

s. Two of his writings are known: the ''Libri ad Edictum'' (The Books of Edicts, of which Julius Paulus quotes the twenty-fifth), and the ''Libri de Stipulationibus'' (The Books of Agreements), concerning legal interpretation. In a passage quoted by Julius Paulus from the ''Libri de Stipulationibus'', Pedius states with respect to the interpretation of wills,

It is best not to scrutinize the proper signification of words, but mainly what the testator has intended to declare; in the next place, what is the opinion of those who live in each district.

In other words, the intention of a testator should prevail over the literal meaning of his words, if they should appear to be in conflict; and that ambiguity should be resolved according to the local practice or understanding in the place where the testator lived. With respect to general interpretation, Pedius observes, in a passage quoted by Ulpian,

That when one or two things are introduced by a ''
lex Lex or LEX may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Lex'', a daily featured column in the ''Financial Times'' Games * Lex, the mascot of the word-forming puzzle video game ''Bookworm'' * Lex, the protagonist of the word-forming puzzle video ga ...
'', it is a good ground for supplying the rest which tends to the same useful purpose by interpretation, or at least by jurisdiction.

Meaning that ambiguity resulting from a law failing to address a specific circumstance should be resolved in a way that is consistent with the underlying purpose of the law, either generally or by its local understanding. The various citations to the authority of Pedius contained in the ''Digest'' are collected by Wieling.Wieling, ''Jurisprudentia Restituta'', p. 335.

References

Bibliography

* ''Digesta'', or ''Pandectae'' (

The Digest ''The Digest'', formerly published as ''The English and Empire Digest'', is a digest of case law. It is the "major modern work" of this kind. Its coverage is "wide" but incomplete, and it can be "complicated to use" if the user does not understa ...

). * Guilielmus Grotius, ''De Vitae Jurisconsultorum'' (Lives of the Jurists), Felix Lopez, Brittenburg, (1690). * Abraham Wieling, ''Jurisprudentia Restituta, seu Index Chronologicus in Totum Juris Justinianaei Corpus'' (Jurisprudence Restored, or a Chronological Index to the Whole Code of Justinian), Abraham van Paddenburgh, Utrecht (1739). * Sigmund Wilhelm Zimmern, ''Geschichte des Römischen Privatrechts bis Justinian'' (History of Roman Private Law to Justinian), J. C. B. Mohr, Heidelberg (1826). * ''

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' (1849, originally published 1844 under a slightly different title) is an encyclopedia/biographical dictionary. Edited by William Smith, the dictionary spans three volumes and 3,700 p ...

'', William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849), ''s. v
Sextus Pedius
', vol. III, pp. 164, 165. * "Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law", in ''Transactions of the American Philosophical Society'', vol. 43, part 2, p. 625 (1953), ''s. v
Sextus Pedius
', p. 625. {{DEFAULTSORT:Pedius, Sextus 50 births 120 deaths Ancient Roman jurists 1st-century Romans 2nd-century Romans Pedii

See also

References

Bibliography