History of Roman criminal law from Romulus to Justinian.
Beautiful Letters| N° d'inventaire | 23734 |
| Format | 13 x 20 |
| Détails | 1020 p., paperback. |
| Publication | Paris, 2021 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782251451565 |
The Romans never used a formula to designate what we call "criminal law." Should we therefore think with Theodor Mommsen that "since Roman criminal law never formed a whole, there can be no question of tracing its history"? No, precisely, because history cannot presuppose a doctrinal system that would determine its object as a whole. From the founding of Rome attributed to Romulus (in 753 BC) until the reconquest effort led by the Byzantine emperor Justinian (527-565 AD), institutions and norms relating to the repression of crimes have been constantly produced. Originally, a "right of life and death" qualified the place of the father in the family, like that of the magistrate in the city. Then came the "Republic" or the advent of libertas, that is to say essentially the protection of the citizen against the arbitrariness of the magistrate. Five centuries later and at the end of long civil wars, imperial autocracy replaced "liberty": any crime could henceforth be considered an attack on the "majesty of the prince"; only the emperor could decide on "indulgence" erasing a sentence or receive the "appeal" of a condemned person. This work articulates in fifty sections, divided into three chapters (procedure, crimes, punishments), the reading of thirteen centuries of a political history of Rome.
The Romans never used a formula to designate what we call "criminal law." Should we therefore think with Theodor Mommsen that "since Roman criminal law never formed a whole, there can be no question of tracing its history"? No, precisely, because history cannot presuppose a doctrinal system that would determine its object as a whole. From the founding of Rome attributed to Romulus (in 753 BC) until the reconquest effort led by the Byzantine emperor Justinian (527-565 AD), institutions and norms relating to the repression of crimes have been constantly produced. Originally, a "right of life and death" qualified the place of the father in the family, like that of the magistrate in the city. Then came the "Republic" or the advent of libertas, that is to say essentially the protection of the citizen against the arbitrariness of the magistrate. Five centuries later and at the end of long civil wars, imperial autocracy replaced "liberty": any crime could henceforth be considered an attack on the "majesty of the prince"; only the emperor could decide on "indulgence" erasing a sentence or receive the "appeal" of a condemned person. This work articulates in fifty sections, divided into three chapters (procedure, crimes, punishments), the reading of thirteen centuries of a political history of Rome.