LEGAL FORMULAS. – These are specific sets of words that collectively reproduce norms or models for legal or administrative acts.
Throughout the history of law and various legal systems, legal formulas have often had different functions and meanings.
I. ROMAN LAW
The Roman legal process in its second phase of development is characterized by the use of legal formulas, approved or issued by the competent magistrate (the praetor), on the basis of which judicial action was conducted. The formulary procedure, introduced by the Lex Aebutia, following the practice established by the peregrine praetor and supplemented under Augustus by two laws (de iudiciis privatorum and de iudiciis publicorum), remained in force throughout the classical period of Roman jurisprudence.The formula was a written instruction issued by the praetor to the litigating parties, after hearing their claims, to serve as a guideline for the judge they had chosen, to whom the praetor referred them. In this document, the terms of the dispute were summarized in schematic form, and the designated judge was instructed to condemn or absolve the defendant based on whether the alleged facts were proven or not. The formula thus corresponded to a hypothetical judgment.
Its main elements were: the intentio, which expressed the plaintiff’s claim; the demonstratio, which outlined the case under consideration or the prerequisites of the action brought; the condemnatio, which empowered the judge to condemn or absolve the defendant based on the truth of the facts; and the adiudicatio, which gave the judge the authority, in partition judgments, to assign ownership of individual items or portions of property to each party. Possible accessory parts included: the praescriptio, a preamble to the formula intended to limit its effects and prevent claims that the parties wished to reserve from being considered in the lawsuit; and the exceptio, a clause inserted at the defendant’s request to oppose a circumstance that would invalidate the action.
For frequent cases, formulas were proposed and displayed by the praetor in the edict (v.) for the benefit of interested parties; however, others could be drafted by mutual agreement of the litigants with the approval of the same magistrate.
II. COMMON LAW
Within the framework of common and ecclesiastical law, legal formulas refer to models or exemplars of procedural acts and public and private legal documents, drawn up in accordance with the law and practice of the time, to serve as guides for others in drafting similar acts. The vast and interesting formulary literature constitutes a valuable source for the history of law, especially medieval law.Collections of legal formulas were in use from early centuries in Rome and Constantinople, at the imperial curia, under the name of *monumenta*, or later among public notaries, and subsequently at the Papal Curia. They later spread rapidly and extensively, particularly during the barbarian period, among minor curiae, tribunals, and schools of scribes, reaching their peak in formal practice, especially in the profession of public notaries. The earliest centers of production were monastic schools where the *ars dictandi* (the art of drafting documents) was taught. France holds the primacy in the production of formularies.
They are generally named after the region where they were used, sometimes after the name of their discoverer (e.g., the *Salicae Bignonianae*, the *Salicae Merkelianae*, both from the 8th century, and the *Salicae Lindenbrogianae*, of uncertain date), or occasionally after the compiler’s name (e.g., the *Marculfianae*).
The principal collections of legal formulas from the barbarian period include: the *Ostrogothicae* (6th century), preserved in the *Variae* of Cassiodorus, secretary to King Theodoric; the *Visigothicae* (7th century) of King Sisebut; in France, the *Andecavenses* (Angers, 6th–7th century), the *Marculfianae* (7th century), compiled by the monk Marculf for the schools of notaries; the *Turonenses* (Tours, 8th century) and the *Arvernenses* (Clermont-Ferrand, 8th century). Of lesser importance are the *Senonenses* (Sens, 7th–10th century), the *Flaviniacenses* (Flavigny, 9th century), and the *Bituricenses* (Bourges, 8th century).
In Italy, the Ostrogothic formulas of Cassiodorus and the Visigothic ones were initially used; later, each region developed its own, most of which have been lost. In addition to the *Langobardicae* formulas (10th–11th century), contained in the *Liber Papiensis* and the *Chartularium Langobardicum*, and the *Bononienses*, which were very famous even outside Italy, the *Florentinae* formulas gained particular renown in the Middle Ages, followed later by the *Senenses* and *Placentinae*.
Although almost disappeared following modern codifications, some legal formulas are still in use today in forensic and notarial practice.
III. CANON LAW
The formulary literature, which in this field is largely dominated by ecclesiastical elements, found particular significance in the specific domain of canon law and ecclesiastical administrative practice.The oldest and most important collection of formulas at the Roman Curia is the *Liber Diurnus* (v.), which comprises, divided into three series, formulas for papal acts in use from the pontificate of St. Gregory the Great (590–604) to that of Leo III (795–816), and which remained in official use at the Apostolic Chancery until the pontificate of Gregory VII (1073–85). From 1228, another formulary known as the *Provinciale* or *Liber Provincialis* was in use at the same Chancery, followed by the *Quaternus albus*, compiled during the Avignon papacy and used until 1560. The *Liber Regularium Cancellariae*, transcribed from the *Collectio Regularium Cancellariae*, compiled under John XXII (1316–34), also belongs to this formulary genre.
The use of their own legal formulas later became common in every dicastery of the Roman Curia. The Sacred Penitentiary has had its own formulary since the Middle Ages. The Sacred Congregations of the Consistory, of the Propagation of the Faith, and of Religious have their own formulas for granting apostolic faculties to ordinaries within their respective jurisdictions, to nuncios, internuncios, apostolic delegates, and religious superiors (v. *quinquennales*, faculties).
As in civil forensic practice, the use of formularies saw significant development in canonical procedural practice. The so-called *Ordinaria iudiciaria*, of which there is abundant medieval literature, are mostly, at least in part, formularies. Examples include the *Curialis*, compiled between 1251 and 1270 and widely used in the episcopal courts of France; the *Formularium* of Martino da Fano, dating to 1232; the classic *Ordo iudiciarius in causa ecclesiastica* by the Bolognese decretist Egidio de Fuscarariis (d. 1289); the *Speculum iudiciale* by Guillaume Durand; and many others.
Even in the ecclesiastical field, though now greatly reduced, the use of formulas cannot yet be said to have completely disappeared.