AUCTOR
AUCTOR, a word which contains the same element as
augeo, and signifies generally one who enlarges,
confirms, or gives to a thing its completeness and efficient form. The
numerous technical meanings of the word, some of which we proceed to
explain, are more or less closely derived from this general notion. As he
who gives to a thing that which is necessary for its completeness may, in
this sense, be viewed as the chief actor or doer, the word
auctor is also used in the sense of one who
originates or proposes a thing; but this cannot be regarded as its primary
meaning.
I. Political.
The word
auctor, when used in connexion with
lex or
senatus
consultum, often means him who originates and proposes, as
appears from numerous passages (
Liv. 6.36;
Cic. pro Dom. 30, 80).
When the word is applied to him who recommends but does not originate a
legislative measure, it is equivalent to
suasor (
Cic. Att. 1.1. 9 ;
Brut. 25, 97 ; 27, 106). Sometimes both
auctor and
suasor
are used in the same sentence, and the meaning of each is kept distinct
(
Cic. de Off. 3.3.
0, 109). When a measure was approved by the senate before it was
confirmed by the votes of the people, the senate were said
auctores fieri, and this preliminary approval
was called
senatus auctoritas (
Cic. Brut. 14,
55). The expressions
patres auctores fiunt, patres auctores facti, have been
the subject of much discussion, and are explained in a separate article.
[
AUCTORITAS
PATRUM]
In the imperial time, auctor is often said of the emperor (
princeps) who recommended anything to the
senate, and on which recommendation that body passed a senatus consultum
(Gaius, 1.30, 80; Sueton.
Vesp. 11).
II. Legal.
1. With reference to dealings between individuals, auctor has the sense
of owner (Cic.
pro Caecin. 10, 27), and is
defined thus (
Dig. 50, tit. 17, s. 175):
Auctor meus a quo jus in me transit. In
this sense auctor is the seller (
venditor),
as opposed to the buyer (
emptor). (
Dig. 19, tit. 1, s. 4; s. 52.3.) The person who
joined the seller in a warranty, or as security, was called
auctor secundus, as opposed to the seller or
auctor primus (
Dig.
21, tit. 2, s. 4). The phrase
a malo
auctore emere (
Cic. Ver.
5.22, 56),
auctorum laudare (
Gel. 2.10),
will thus be intelligible. The testator, with respect to his heir, might
be called
auctor. (Ex Corp. Hermogen. Cod.
tit. 11.)
2. A person whose concurrence is a necessary condition for giving effect
to certain legal transactions, is called
auctor. Thus as a person could not be arrogated without his
own consent, he is said to be the auctor of the arrogation (
Cic. pro Dom. 29).
3. Auctor is also used generally to express any person under whose
authority any legal act is done. In this sense, it means a tutor who is
appointed to aid or advise a woman on account of the infirmity of her
sex (
Liv. 34.2; Cic.
pro
Caecin. 100.25; Gaius, 1.190, 195): it is also applied to
a tutor whose business it is to approve of certain acts on behalf of a
ward (
pupillus). (Paulus,
Dig. 26, tit. 8, s. 3.)
4. In the criminal law auctor signifies the instigator of a crime, the
person who induced another either alone, or in the company of the
auctor, or in combination with others, to commit a crime (
Suet. Tit. 9,
Dom. 23,
Oth. 1,
Ner. 33;
auctor et socius,
Sal. Jug. 30). The passages in the Digest
on this subject are given by Rein,
Criminalrecht der
Römer, p. 190.
The term
auctores juris is sometimes
equivalent to
jurisperiti (
Dig.
1, tit. 2, s. 2.13;
Gel. 2.10);
but the term is specially used for those jurists to whom the
jus respondendi had been given by the emperor.
The law writers or leaders of particular schools of law were called
scholae auctores. It is unnecessary to
trace the other significations of this word.
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E.A.W]
