Numerius Negidius

{{Short description|Name used in hypothetical lawsuits in Ancient Rome}} {{More citations needed|date=October 2024}} '''''Numerius Negidius''''' is a name used in Roman jurisprudence to refer to the defendant in a hypothetical lawsuit.{{sfn|Robinson|1997|p=80}} It based on a play on words: ''Numerius'' is a Roman praenomen, or forename, resembling the verb ''{{linktext|numero|lang=la}}'', "I pay"; while ''Negidius'' has the form of a gentile name formed from the verb ''{{linktext|nego|lang=la}}'', "I refuse". Thus, ''Numerius Negidius'' is a personal name that can also be interpreted to mean "he who refuses to pay".

The plaintiff would be referred to as ''Aulus Agerius''.{{sfn|Robinson|1997|p=80}} ''Aulus'' is also a praenomen, while ''Agerius'' suggests the Latin verb ''{{linktext|ago|lang=la}}'', "I set in motion", as it is the plaintiff who initiates a lawsuit.

One well-known{{cn|date=October 2024}} legal formula, a model instruction to the judge in a civil lawsuit, began as follows: ''si paret Numerium Negidium Aulo Agerio sestertium decem milia dare oportere'', meaning, "if it appears that Numerius Negidius ought to pay Aulus Agerius ten thousand sesterces..." In actual use, the names and amounts would be changed to the appropriate values. This formula appears several times in Book IV of Gaius' ''Institutiones'' ({{circa|AD 161}}).

The initials N. N. can also stand{{where|date=November 2024}} for "name unknown" (''nomen nescio''), a placeholder name roughly equivalent to John or Jane Doe, Thomas Atkins, etc.

== Notes == {{reflist}}

== References == {{Refbegin}} * {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hg5c7rZe-S0C|last=Robinson|first=O. F. |author-link= Olivia F. Robinson |title=The Sources of Roman Law: Problems and Methods for Ancient Historians|date=1997 |publisher=Routledge|isbn=0-415-08994-8|via=Google Books}} {{Refend}}

Category:Roman law Category:Placeholder names {{AncientRome-law-stub}} de:Nomen nominandum#Begriffsursprung und -geschichte