ANTIGRAPHUS - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

ANTIGRAPHUSAuthored

The Law Mind • 518 words

Definition

A Roman law officer responsible for overseeing and safeguarding tax revenues collected by tax-gatherers (exactores) on behalf of the state or the imperial treasury. The antigraphus functioned as a comptroller — a check against misappropriation or mishandling of public funds — whose specific duty was to watch over money collected for the use of the emperor or the civil authority. The term is purely historical and carries no operative meaning in modern law.

Why It Matters in Research

This term appears almost exclusively in historical legal dictionaries and in treatises on Roman law and civil law antecedents. Researchers encountering it are most likely working in one of two contexts: (1) historical scholarship on Roman fiscal administration and the civil law tradition, or (2) tracing the genealogy of modern comptroller or auditor offices back through civil law sources.

The term will not appear in case law, statutory codes, or common law pleading. Its presence in Black's, Rapalje & Lawrence, and Burrill signals that nineteenth-century American legal lexicographers were documenting Roman and civil law vocabulary as part of the broader project of connecting Anglo-American law to its learned law background — not because antigraphus had any operative American legal significance.

Burrill's entry is the most substantive of the dictionary sources and provides the underlying Latin description of the office's function, sourced to Budaeus's annotations on the Pandects. Researchers needing deeper treatment of the office's Roman law context should consult primary civil law sources and commentaries on the Digest rather than common law dictionaries.

Historical Dictionary Support

All four sources are in agreement on the core definition: the antigraphus was a Roman law officer charged with oversight of tax money, functioning as a comptroller. The definitions are nearly identical across Black's (1st and 2nd editions) and Rapalje & Lawrence, suggesting direct borrowing or reliance on a common civil law source.

Burrill adds the most texture. His entry supplies the Greek etymology (from anti, "against," and graphein, "to write" — literally, one who writes against, i.e., one who counter-records or checks accounts), cites the Latin description of the office from Budaeus's annotations on the Pandects (De Quaestoris officio), and translates the functional meaning as one who "controlled" the exactores. The phrase cui id muneris injunctum erat, ut observet pecuniam quam in usum principis vel civitatis collegerunt exactores captures the supervisory, counter-checking nature of the role.

None of the historical sources attempt to draw a connection between antigraphus and any modern legal office, and none suggest continuing legal force. The term is treated uniformly as a historical curiosity — Roman law vocabulary preserved in the learned law tradition.

ANTIGRAPHUSmain

Rapalje & Lawrence • 1888

- An officer whose duty it was, by the Roman law, to take care of tax money. A comptroller. ΑΝΤΙΝΟMIA. -A term of the Roman law, used to designate a contradiction or inconsistency, real or apparent, between two or more laws. ANTIQUA CUSTUMA.-Ancient custom. An export duty on wool and hides under the reign of Edward I.; so called to distinguish it from an increased duty upon the same articles, the treaty of peace negotiable in 1783, but the imposed by him at a later period of his reign, American jurists do not concur in this view. ANTENATI, (who are). 3 Hall L. J. 29; 7 Co. 1; 2 Kent Com. 40, 56, 58. (real property rights of). 5 Day (Conn.) 171. ANTE-NUPTIAL.-Before marriage. Ante-nuptial settlements are settlements of property upon the wife, or upon her and her children, made before, and in view of the marriage. Such settlements are now less frequent than forinerly, owing to the recent laws extending the property rights of married women. was called nova custuma. ANTIQUA STATUTA.-Ancient statActs of parliament from the time of utes. Richard I. to that of Edward III. ANTIQUUM DOMINICUM.-Ancient demesne (q. v.) ANTITHETARIUS.-One who retorted an accusation upon his accuser.-Cowell; Whishaw. ANY, (in a covenant). 7 Dowl. & Ry. 556. (in a deed). 3 Serg. & R. (Pa.) 392. (in forgery statute). 3 Wheel. Cr. Cas. 514. (when means "all" in a statute). 10 How. (N. Y.) Pr. 83. ANY ACT, (in a statute). Wilberf. Stat. L. 283, 284; 4 Halst. (N. J.) 128; 1 Binn. (Pa.) 279, 280, 286. ANTICHRESIS.-An agreement in the civil law resembling a mortgage, by which a debtor surrendered to his creditor the income arising from the thing pledged to secure the ANY ACTION, (in statute of appeal). 41 Conn. loan, in lieu of interest upon the debt; except 329. that under the French law if such income exANY BONA FIDE PURCHASER, (in a statute). ceeded the lawful interest the borrower might 35 Ohio St. 406. claim the excess and hold the lender to account therefor. ANY COURT OF RECORD, (includes what courts). 6 Co. 19. ANY CREDITOR, (in bankrupt act). 7 Mass. ANTICHRESIS, (defined). 11 Pet. (U.S.) 351; 227. 7 La. Ann. 526.