http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
The ideal of the rule of law - that the law should protect all citizens from arbitrary exercises of power - can be traced from ancient Greece to the present day. The Roman contribution to the rule of law tradition has been largely overlooked, however, both in rule-of-law scholarship and recent considerations of Roman law. This volume brings together the study of the rule of law and the study of ancient Rome. Its chapters apply insights and approaches drawn from modern legal theory in order to understand the ways in which Romans thought about law and the place of law in their community, the ways in which Roman institutions and political norms protected citizens against the arbitrary exercise of power, and how these ideas and practices changed with Rome's transition from republic to empire.
"This volume brings together the study of the rule of law—the idea that the law should protect citizens from arbitrary exercises of power—and the study of ancient Rome. Its chapters apply insights and approaches drawn from modern legal theory in order to understand the ways in which Romans thought about law and the place of law in their community, the extent to which Roman institutions and political norms protected citizens against the arbitrary exercise of power, and how these ideas and practices changed with Rome's transition from republic to empire. Part I offers an overview of the modern concept of the rule of law and some of the challenges and possibilities of seeking a rule of law in ancient Rome. Part II focuses on the Roman republic and the relationship between key institutions and the law (including the senate, magistrates, people, and state religion), as well as the attitudes of some prominent late republican individuals towards the rule of law. Part III on the principate and empire explores aspirations for the rule of law in the wake of civil war, the relationship between the emperor and the law, and the nature of the emperor's role as above the law but guarantor of justice. Together, the chapters reveal a world where elements of the rule of law are recognizable but inconsistently realized and sometimes subordinate to alternative ideals of justice, popular sovereignty, or the personal authority of individuals."--
Cover -- The Rule of Law in Ancient Rome -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- List of Contributors -- Introduction -- Acknowledgements -- Dedication -- Part I: Framing Questions -- 1: The Rule of Law A Thought Pattern -- I. Introduction -- II. The Pattern -- (a) The society has law (that is a legal system) and the law 'rules' -- (b) When it (the legal system) has certain characteristics -- (c) The system protects members of that community -- (d) From something regarded as bad or undesirable -- III. Further Observations -- IV. Conclusion -- 2 : In Search of a Roman Rule of Law
I. The Background -- II. Some Roadblocks -- III. Potential Ways Forward -- IV. Conclusions -- PART II: The Republic -- 3: Cato and the Rule of Law -- I. Definitions -- II. The Law Should Rule -- III. Prospectivity -- IV. Generality -- V. Problem Cases -- VI. Cato above the Law? -- VII. Some Reflections-And the Road Ahead -- 4: The Populus and the Rule of Law -- I. Introduction -- II. The Changeability of Law -- III. Protecting Law from the People -- IV. From Theory to Practice -- V. The Opposing View: Whatever the People Order? -- VI. Conclusion: Tradition and Innovation
5: 'Rule of Law' and the Gods in the Late Republic -- I. Expectations of the 'Rule of Law' in the Republic -- II. The Role of the Gods: Consultation and Control in 59 BCE -- III. Responses and Reactions in the Fifties BCE -- IV. Conclusions -- 6: The Praetor's Edict and the Rule of Law -- I. The Formulary System and Its Antecedents -- II. Arbitrariness and Instability -- III. Regulating a Magistrate -- IV. The Lex Cornelia of 67 BCE and Its Limitations -- V. The Jurists and the Praetor's Edict -- VI. The Presence of 'Thought Patterns' -- VII. Nature of the Roman Experience -- VIII. Conclusion
7: Non Iure Rogata The People, the Senate, and the Rule of Law in Republican Rome -- I. Legislation and the Rule of Law -- II. Annulment -- III. The Senate Acts -- IV. The Lex Caecilia Didia -- V. The Emergence of Senatorial Annulment -- VI. Violence -- VII. Senatorial Restraint -- VIII. Roman Institutions and the Rule of Law -- 8: Not in the Last Instance -- I. Pro Rabirio Perduellionis -- II. Laws without Courts? -- III. De Legibus in General -- IV. Conclusion -- Part III: Principate and Empire -- 9: Aspiration, Accountability, and Abuse Augustus and the Law in Post-Conflict Rome
I. Aspiration for the Return of the (Rule of?) Law: Law, Legitimate Authority, and Leadership -- II. Calling for Accountability and Calling Out Abuse: The Death of Quintus Gallius -- III. What Is the Relationship between Augustus and the Law? The Trial of Marcus Primus -- IV. Conclusion -- 10: Princeps Legibus Solutus Est an Non? Cultures of Legality in the Roman Empire -- I. Introduction -- II. Conceptual Framework: The 'Rule of Law' and 'Cultures of Legality' -- III. The Princeps and the Law -- Imperial adjudication -- Petition and response
edited by Eleanor Cowan, Kit Morrell, Andrew Pettinger, Michael Sevel.
Includes bibliographical references and index.