The study of the Roman Empire has changed dramatically in the last century, with significant emphasis now placed on understanding the experiences of subject populations, rather than a sole focus on the Roman imperial elites. Local experiences, and interactions between periphery and centre, are an intrinsic component in our understanding of the empire's function over and against the earlier, top-down model. But where does law fit into this new, decentralized picture of empire?
This volume brings together internationally renowned scholars from both legal and historical backgrounds to study the operation of law in each region of the Roman Empire, from Britain to Egypt, from the first century BCE to the end of the third century CE. Regional specificities are explored in detail alongside the emergence of common themes and activities in a series of case studies that together reveal a new and wide-ranging picture of law in the Roman Empire, balancing the practicalities of regional variation with the ideological constructs of law and empire.
Table of Contents after the jump:
I. Egypt and the Near East
2. Aequum et iustum: On Dealing with the Law in the Province of Egypt, Andrea Jördens
3. Order and Chaos in Roman Administrative Terminology, Uri Yiftach
4. The Constitutio Antoniniana and Private Legal Practice in the Eastern Empire, José Luis Alonso
5. The Decision of Septimius Severus and Caracalla on longi temporis praescriptio (BGU 267 and P.Strass. 22), Anna Plisecka
6. Law and Romanization in Judaea, Kimberley Czajkowski
7. Legal Interactions in the Archive of Babatha: P. Yadin 21 and 22, Tiziana J. Chiusi
8. Law and Administration at the Edges of Empire: The Case of Dura-Europos, Kimberley Czajkowski
II. Asia Minor and Greece
9. Latin Law in Greek Cities: Knowledge of Law and Latin in Imperial Asia Minor, Ulrich Huttner
10. Local Understandings of Roman Criminal Law and Procedure in Asia Minor, Cédric Brélaz
11. Navigating Roman Law and Local Privileges in Pontus-Bithynia, Georgy Kantor
12. Law and Citizenship in Roman Achaia: Continuity and Change, Lina Girdvainyte
13. The Integration and Perception of the Rule of Law in Roman Crete: From the Roman Conquest to the End of the Principate (67 BCE-235 CE), Ioannis Tzamtzis
14. Lesbos in the Roman Empire: Treaties, Legal Institutions, and Local Sentiment towards Roman Rule, Athina Dimopoulou
15. An Outline of Legal Norms and Practices in Roman Macedonia (167 BCE-212 CE), Ilias N. Arnaoutoglou
III. Africa and the West
16. The leges municipales as a Means of Legal and Social Romanization of the Provinces of the Roman Empire, Werner Eck
17. Roman City-Laws of Spain and their Modelling of the Religious Landscape, Meret Strothmann
18. Public Law in Roman North Africa, Clifford Ando
19. Nutricula causidicorum: Legal Practitioners in Roman North Africa, Anna Dolganov
20. Law, Empire, and Identity between West and East: The Danubian Provinces, Benedikt Eckhardt
21. Provincial Law' in Britannia, Paul du Plessis
22. Legal Education and Legal Culture in Gaul during the Principate, Matthijs Wibier
23. Perspectives, Giovanna D. Merola
Further information is available here.
--posted by Mitra Sharafi
