Praeside Deo Optimo Maximo: Ex decreto et authoritate amplissimi Iurisconsultorum Collegii in inclyta Basiliensium Academia, pro solenni Docturae gradu in utroque Iure consequendo, subsequentes de litis contestatione Theses

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ALTHOUGH all other things that are performed before the contestation of a suit are, as it were, preparatory to the judgment; it is consistent with the truth of the law, however, that the judgment begins with the litis contestatio contestation of a suit, and that it descends, so to speak, into a civil confrontation.

II.
And for that reason it is rightly called by the interpreters of law the base, foundation, and cornerstone of the judgment; when this is omitted, nothing can be treated in the judgment, or proposed without the risk of future destruction.

III.
From which it is also called the beginning of the suit by the canonists; not that the controversy first begins with it (since the principle of instituting all actions is the summons to court), but that from it at last a suit truly exists, and it turns upon it as if upon a hinge.

IV.
The litis contestatio contestation of a suit can be defined as follows: it is the narrative of the matter regarding which there is a controversy before the judge, made by the plaintiff, and the response of the defendant following upon it.

V.
To that which the plaintiff has proposed, the adversary is accustomed to respond in a triple manner: either by denying that which is proposed, or by distinguishing, or by delaying the action.

VI.
From this it is understood that the litis contestatio contestation of a suit contains two parts within itself: the narrative of the plaintiff and the response of the defendant.

VII.
And this is what the Emperor Justinian says: A suit is then seen to be contested, when the judge has begun to hear the cause through the narration of the matter.