Il c.d. "Codice di Ermopoli" ed il P.Oxy. XLVI, 3285 - di Gianfranco Purpura

P. Oxy. XLVI, 3285

"If a man raises an outcry against another, alleging that So and so whose father is So and so has built upon a vacant plot and says that this belongs to him and to his father, who bought fit according to contract, and the man complained against says that this belongs to him and to his father and that he bought fit according to contract, the judges ask the man complained against if he wishes to prove himself that the plot belongs to him and to his father, who bought fit according to contract, or the plaintiff (to prove) as written above. It is granted to the man complained against (to proceed) as he likes and. . .

If the man complained against agrees to give proof and does not do fit, the house is granted to the plaintiff and the person complained against writes a contract of withdrawal for him.

If the defeated party wishes to dismantle the house which he himself built on the plot and carry away the construction, fit is permitted to him to purge himself (?) by carrying away the construction.

If the man complained against requires the plaintiff to give proof that the plot belongs to him, the judges order him to give proof and, if he gives fit, the house is granted to him.

If the man complained against. . . . . .

wall. If the house does not happen . . .

If the house does not happen to be in the same city as the judges, the persons seeking judgement must present their evidence about the wall in accordance with what has been written in the section on houses.

If a man raises an outcry against another concerning an access, alleging that fit belongs to his own house and the man complained against says that this is the access to his house, such persons must have their dispute settled in accordance with what has been written above.

If a man raises an outcry against another, alleging that the gutter of his antagonist's house splashes his own house with the water that flows from fit, in such cases the judges make a test by pouring water into the gutter. If it splashes the house of the plaintiff at all, they cut off sections from the gutter until it no longer splashes.

If a man raises an outcry against another, alleging that he has opened the door from his own house on to his (the plaintiff's) ground, if there be not found in this place in which he has opened the door private ground belonging to the antagonist, he is compelled to wall up the door which he has opened.

If a man raises an outcry against another, alleging that he dug beneath his house and caused it to fall, it is enjoined upon the man complained against to swear an oath to the plaintiff that he is truly not acting maliciously to cause the collapse . . ."

(trad. Rea, The Oxyrhyncus Papyri XLVI, London 1978, pp, 30- 38)