What the joinder of issue is.

The joinder of issue is the basis of all judgment, for in the final analysis it is because of that that the suit exists and in that that it consists, and it emerges out of the corresponding response of the accused, either to the libel, or to the questions, which are either given in writing or written up on the judge's orders; nor does the joinder of issue depend on accidents or chance occurrences, but on the main point of controversy. And since the form and shape of the judgment makes this procedure necessary, the litigants are burdened with useless labours and expenses if it is overlooked.

Of confession.

When the accused confesses after the libel has been submitted, and the suit is joined on the basis of his confession, the judge can proceed to pass sentence, once those things are obtained, but if the confession precedes the submission of the libel, then there shall not be any joinder of the issue, nor shall sentence be passed, but the judge must only inform the accused that he must pay what he owes within a certain time. If someone responds to the deposition or to the petitions by putting forward a protest in which he claims that when he made those responses he did not intend that the issue should be joined, the issue shall not be joined.

The joinder of issue does not require the presence of the plaintiff.

The issue may be joined even if the plaintiff is absent, as long as the libel [is] submitted, or the questions are written up, which the judge may present to the accused so that he may respond in the judgment. For if there follows a response in which the matters questioned are either affirmed or denied, or there is a protestation of an intention which is hostile to the joinder of the issue, the issue will be joined (even though the plaintiff is absent).

In the response, which is required for the issue to be joined, it does not matter whether the accused answers with a statement of what he believes to be true or with a statement of what he knows to be true.