Definition
De tabulis exhibendis is a Roman law term meaning "of showing the tablets of a will." It refers to the interdict — an order of the Roman praetor — by which a party could compel the production and exhibition of testamentary tablets (the written instrument of a will). The interdict operated as a procedural mechanism to force disclosure of a will's contents, enabling interested parties to ascertain their rights under it or to contest its validity. It appears in the Digest of Justinian at Title 43.5, which organizes the Roman law of interdicts relating to the exhibition of documents.
Why It Matters in Research
This term appears almost exclusively in sources treating Roman civil law and its reception into European legal systems. Researchers encountering de tabulis exhibendis in English-language legal literature are almost certainly working with a text that draws heavily on the civil law tradition — a Roman-canon synthesis rather than the common law of England or its American descendants.
The term has no meaningful living presence in modern common law jurisdictions. Its functional equivalents in contemporary practice are documentary production mechanisms: discovery demands, subpoenas duces tecum, or orders for production of a will in probate proceedings. A researcher tracing the historical roots of will-production procedures in civil law countries — particularly those of continental Europe or Louisiana — may find de tabulis exhibendis a useful anchor point.
The specific location in Digest 43.5 is significant. Title 43 of the Digest collects the interdicts, and Title 43.5 addresses production of wills specifically. Researchers working in Roman law sources should use this citation to locate the full interdict text and the accompanying juristic commentary, which elaborates the conditions under which the interdict could be sought, who could invoke it, and what counted as lawful excuse for non-production.
One research trap: historical legal dictionaries — including all three sources here — reproduce this term identically and tersely. None of them synthesizes the underlying Roman law context or traces the interdict's functional role. A researcher relying solely on dictionary sources will understand the phrase but not its procedural mechanics. The Digest itself and secondary works on Roman civil procedure are necessary for substantive analysis.
Historical Dictionary Support
All three historical sources — Black's Law Dictionary, Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.), and Burrill's Law Dictionary — provide identical one-sentence definitions: "Of showing the tablets of a will," with a uniform citation to Digest 43.5. There is no divergence, elaboration, or historical development across these sources. The uniformity reflects the term's status as a narrow technical term of Roman law that was catalogued rather than analyzed in Anglo-American legal dictionaries.
What the historical sources collectively omit is notable: they do not explain that this was an interdict (a specific praetorian remedy distinct from an actio), that it was available to heirs and legatees with a legitimate interest in the will, or that it operated as a compulsory exhibition mechanism rather than a substantive claim to the will's contents. Burrill's, which is generally more expansive in its Roman law entries, adds nothing beyond Black's on this term — a reliable signal that the compilers treated it as a purely definitional entry rather than a term of practical significance to their readership.
Jurisdictional Note
De tabulis exhibendis has no application in common law jurisdictions. It belongs to the Roman civil law tradition and is relevant primarily to research in Roman law, canon law, and the civil law systems derived from them. In Louisiana, which retains civil law heritage, the functional concepts are governed by the Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure rather than by Roman interdict practice, though Roman law provides historical background.