Emperors and Lawyers: With a Palingenesia of Third-Century Imperial Rescripts 193-305 AD

This is the second edition of an original and controversial book. It analyses some 2,609 legal rulings (rescripts) given by Roman Emperors between 193 and 305 AD, and argues that, though issued in the name of emperors, they were really both in style and substance the work of professional lawyers. From their style we can detect when one lawyer-draftsman gave way to another, we can identify some of the lawyers and we can allot most of the rescripts to their real author. On this basis the author argues that in the third century there was a convention that the rights of citizens would be governed by objective legal standards. The Roman Empire was not a pure autocracy. Updated and in large part rewritten, this edition includes on a high-density diskette a reconstruction (Palingenesia) of the 2,609 rescripts. This new and original work of reference will enable scholars to read the texts chronologically and to judge the soundness of the arguments advanced.

Preface 1 . The Emperor in the Legal World. 2. Rescripts: System and Style. 3. The Later Principate (193-282 AD). 4. The Age of Diocletian (282-305 AD). Tables. 1. Dated Private Rescripts by Year and Secretary, (193-305 AD). 2. Holders of the Office of Secretary for Petitions (procurator a libellis / magister libellorum) AD 193-305. 3. Table of Words and Phrases Referred to. 4. Table of Legal Texts Referred to. Bibliography. Index. Palingenesia of Latin Private Rescripts 193-305 AD - diskette in pocket of back cover. 5. Not applicable. 6. J100, H225 (Rome). 7. Tony Honore was a Fellow of All Souls and at one time a Fellow of Queen's College. He was a Delegate of the Press from 1976-i984. 8. Making Law Bind (OUP, 1987). Causation in the Law (with H.L.A. Hart) 2nd Edition, OUP 1984. Ulpian (Oxford, 1982). Tribonian (London, 1978). 9. No competition. 10. Johnston: The Roman Law of Trusts. 11. SIDA Conference, held annually in August / September each year.