“DE DEBITORE IN PARTES SECANDO…. [S]ome writers contending for the literal signification, while others have supposed it to be only a figurative expression …. The latter view has been adopted by Montesquieu, Bynkershoek, Heineccius and Taylor …. The literal meaning, on the other hand, is advocated by Aulus Gellius and other writers of antiquity, and receives support from an expression (semoto omni cruciatu) in the Roman Code itself …. This is also the opinion of Gibbon, Gravina, Pothier, Hugo and Niebuhr.” 1 Alexander Burrill, A Law Dictionary and Glossary 432 (2d ed. 1867).
de debitore in partes secando
de debitore in partes secando (dee deb-i-tor-ee in pahr-teez si-kan-doh). [Latin “of cutting a debtor in pieces”] Roman law. The title of a law in the Twelve Tables, meaning either literally to cut a debtor into pieces or merely to divide the debtor’s estate. See TWELVE TABLES.
