The Presbyters Project

Canon 8

Vt scripturae quas sacerdotes uel ministri iniuste fecerint, post mortem eorum habeant annorum numerum computatum.

Si sacerdotes uel ministri, dum gubernacula ecclesiarum administrare uidentur, contra Patrum sanctissimas sanctiones de rebus ecclesiae definisse aliqua dinoscantur, non ex die quo talia scribendo decreuit, sed ex quo talia moriendo definita reliquit, supputationis ordo substabit. Nusquam etenim poterit ad tricennium temporis pertinere uita irrite iudicantis, quia status contractuum initia non assumpsit ab origine aequitatis.

(eds. Martínez Díez, Rodríguez 1992: 501)

Canon 8

That if priests or ministers bestow something unjustly by a charter, the thirty years will count from [the moment of] their death

If priests or ministers during the time they have administered their Churches are found to have bestowed something from the ecclesiastical property against the decrees of the most holy Fathers, the time [of thirty years] will be counted not from the day of the issuance of the charter, but from the day of death of the person who bestowed this property. On no occasion, the time of the life of one bestowing in vain can belong to the period of thirty years, because these contracts have not had just origins.

(trans. M. Szada)

Discussion:

The canon tells about the so-called praescriptio triginta annorum (cf. Corpus Iuris Civilis 7.39; in the Visigothic law: Lex Visigothorum X, 2, 3-6) - the plaintiff (in this case the Church) can sue the debtor (here a person to whom a priest unjustly bestowed something from the ecclesiastical property) only within a period of thirty years. The canon, however, specifies that the thirty years shall be counted not from the moment of bestowal, but from the moment of the death of the priest. More generally on this kind of praescriptio in late Roman law and in Germanic laws see Levy 1951: 180-193.

Place of event:

Region

Iberian Peninsula

City

Toledo

About the source:

Title: Ninth Council of Toledo, Concilium Toletanum nonum a. 655, Concilium VIIII Toletanum, Concilium Toletanum VIIII, Concilium IX Toletanum, Conciliu Toletanum IX
Origin: Toledo (Iberian Peninsula)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

The Ninth Council of Toledo assembled in November 655 during the reign of King Reccesvinth (653-672). It was presided over by Eugenius II of Toledo. It was attended by fifteen other bishops, abbots, representatives of absent bishops, and lay palatine office-holders (comites), similarly to the previous council in AD 653, but then the representation of ecclesiastics and laymen were significantly more numerous (see discussion in [650]).

Edition:

G. Martínez Díez, F. Rodríguez eds., La colección canónica Hispana, Monumenta Hispaniae sacra. Serie canónica 5, Madrid 1992.

Bibliography:

R. Collins, Visigothic Spain, 409-711, Oxford 2004.

E. Levy, West Roman Vulgar Law. The Law of Property, Philadelphia 1951.

J. Orlandis, D. Ramos-Lissón, Die Synoden auf der Iberischen Halbinsel bis zum Einbruch des Islam (711), Paderborn 1981.

Categories:

Described by a title - Sacerdos/ἱερεύς

Economic status and activity - Ownership or possession of land

Economic status and activity - Gift

Described by a title - Minister/λειτουργός/ὑπηρέτης

Writing activity

Private law - Ecclesiastical

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER737, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=737