Description
What would you see if you attended a trial in a courtroom in the early Roman empire? What was the behaviour of litigants, advocates, judges and audience?
It was customary for Roman individuals out of general interest to attend the various courts held in public places in the city centre and as such the Roman courts held an important position in the Roman community on a sociological level as well as a letigious one.
This book considers many aspects of Roman courts in the first two centuries AD, both civil and criminal, and illuminates the interaction of Romans of every social group.
Actors and Audience in the Roman Courtroom is an essential resource for courses on Roman social history and Roman law as a historical phenomenon.
Table of Contents
Illustrations vii
Acknowledgments viii
Abbreviations ix
Introduction 1
1 The location of legal activities in the city of Rome 13
Courts of the praetors 14
Court of the emperor 34
Courts of other magistrates 39
Overview of locations 48
2 Reconstruction of the Roman courtroom 51
Types of people present 52
Physical arrangement of the participants 53
Physical arrangement of the audience 57
The distinction between types of courts 59
The centumviral court 61
3 The litigant 71
Identity of litigants 72
Motivation 77
Choosing an advocate 81
The litigant in the courtroom 81
CONTENTS
vi
4 The judge 89
An overview of judges at Rome 91
Album iudicum 92
Unus iudex 101
The stress of judging 103
Favoritism in the rulings of the judge 108
Judicial service: honor or duty? 110
The judge in the courtroom 116
5 The audience 120
The identity of the audience 121
Audience participation 133
Clientelae and the claque 136
6 The advocate 141
Status, pay, the “decline of oratory”, and terminology 141
The cases of advocates 150
Factors in the selection of cases 158
Factors in the refusal of cases 165
Provincial and out-of-town advocates 167
7 The advocate’s role outside and in the courtroom 170
Time investment and workload 170
The advocate in the courtroom 186
Conclusions 199
Notes 205
Bibliography 253
Index locorum 264
Subject index 279
