BONAM CO´PIAM JURA´RE
BONAM CO´PIAM JURA´RE to take an oath to
one's competence or solvency, is a phrase which occurs in a passage of Varro
(
de Ling. Lat. 7.105) and also in the Lex Julia
municipalis. The passage in Varro states that there was a provision of a
certain law by which all those
qui bonam copiam
jurarent were released so as to be no longer
nexi. Owing to the corrupt state of the text in this passage,
it cannot be clearly ascertained what law is referred to. According to
Bethmann-Hollweg (
Civil-Prozess, § 113), the Lex
Plaetoria is meant, which he supposes to have contained a temporary
provision whereby those who were
nexi at the
time of its passing were released if they complied with the condition
prescribed. Others think that the Lex Poetelia is the law in question (
Liv. 8.28;
Cic. de
Rep. 2.33, 34).
In the Lex Julia municipalis or Tabula Heracliensis we find that anyone
“queive . . . . in jure abjuraverit, bonamve copiam juravit
juraverit,” is included in the class of
infames.
Thus, according to this law, a person
qui bonam copiam
juravit incurred to some extent the penalty of insolvency.
This seems to show that such an oath was taken by a debtor when in default.
It may have been allowed when a debtor was granted an extension of time for
payment, or it may have reference to a composition with creditors. A debtor
“qui bonam copiam juravit” would escape imprisonment; a
benefit extended by the Lex Julia to all those who made
cessio bonorum.
The phrase
bonam copiam ejurare is used by Cicero
(
Cic. Fam. 9.16; cf. Festus,
Epit. v. ejuratio), and is usually interpreted to mean
the taking of an oath by a debtor to the fact of his insolvency. Mommsen
restores the text in the above passage of the Lex Julia and reads
“queive in jure
bonam copiam
abjuravit,” &c., thus identifying
bonam copiam abjurare with
bonam copiam
ejurare. But perhaps
abjurare in this
passage simply means to perjure, and has no connexion with
bonam copiam. It has been suggested that
ejurare in the phrase
bonam
copiam ejurare is used in an intensive sense for
jurare (cf.
Cic. de
Or. 2.7. 0, § 285;
Verr.
3.60.137; Nonius, p. 105,
ejurare = valde jurare),
so that
bonam copiam ejurare is equivalent to
bonam copiam jurare. (Huschke,
Nexum; Dirksen,
Civilist. Abhandlung,
p. 107; Marezoll,
Frag. Tabul. Heracl. 1816, 4.142;
Bethmann-Hollweg,
Civil-Prozess, 2.113.)
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E.A.W]
