Roman Law in Antiquity

Events

Foundation of Rome

753 BC

By Romulus

Scandal Tarquinus Superbus

509 BC

Praetor/Consulate (Lex Hortensia)

367 BC

New Office: Praetor-Edicts
Plebeians could be consuls thanks to the Lex Hortensia

Peregrinus Praetor + Ius Gentium

242 BC

Peregrinus = foreigners (non-romans)
Ius Gentium more or less equal to Natural law

Caesar assassinated

44 BC

Augustus rise to power as dictator

27 BC

Edictum Perpetuum

135

Way of emperor to tighten his grip on power

Gaius' Institutions

160

Formal Division of the Roman Empire

395

Western Empire / Eastern Empire

Fall of Western Roman Empire

476

Justinian's Corpus Iuris Civilis

533

1: Digest - Opinions of Jurists
2: Institutes - Student Textbook
3: Codex - Imperial Constitutiones
Later on they added the new legislation into what is now known as the 4th part: Novellae

Period of time

Kingdom

753 BC - 509 BC

-King for life -- Imperium -- inherited

Republic

509 BC - 27 BC

-2 consuls with fully shared imperium
-elected for 1 year

Empire

27 BC - 476 AD

For the Western Part

Principate

27 BC - 250 AD

Illusion of Republic (remnants of the Republican system)

Dominate

250 AD - 476 AD

'Real' Empire

Legal Era

Archaic

753 BC - 450 BC

Transition period

450 BC - 340 BC

XII Tables

450 BC

Ten were promulgated that same year but two were added a year later

Pre-Classical

340 BC - 50 BC

Classical

50 BC - 250 AD

Increase in the need Jurists

Post-Classical

250 - 533

Procedural Evolution

Legis Actiones

753 BC - 340 BC

Oral Procedure in two stages: In iure & apud iudicem
Overseen by Priests
No appeal possible

Per Formulam

340 BC - 0 AD

2 stages: in iure & apud iudicem
Praetors gradually took over the role of Priests

Cognitio Extraordinaria

0 AD - 1200

One stage
Handled by Emperor
Judges (public authority of state) with legal knowledge
Appeal
It is a flexible procedure: no need of remedy or formulae to gain acces to 'court'