Epigraphic sources
Besides the various literary sources, valuable information about the development of Roman law is derived from a variety of authentic records of Roman date. These include inscriptions on tablets of stone or metal, inscriptions on the walls of arches, temples and other buildings, writings on leaves of papyrus or parchment and other documents.
A large number of epigraphic texts reproduce statutes, decisions of the senate, imperial decrees, municipal charters, calendars and official records, speeches of the emperors, judicial decisions, military discharge certificates and agreements concerning private transactions. To this category of sources belongs, for example, the Res Gestae Divi Augusti, a text recording the most important events of the reign of Augustus. This is also known as Monumentum Ancyranum, because a copy of it was found inscribed on the wall of a temple in Ankara, Turkey. [32] Other examples of documents of this kind include: an inscription from Cyrene containing four edicts of Augustus and a senatorial decree concerning matters of procedure in extortion cases;[33] a bronze plaque found in Lyons with the text of a speech delivered by Emperor Claudius;[34] [35] and an inscription reproducing the text of a law conferring on Emperor Vespasian the same legal powers as his predecessors (the famous lex de imperio Vespasiani)} An important document dating from the early fifth century AD is the Notitia Dignitatum, an official list of all administrative and military posts in the empire from provincial governors upwards. This document provides important information about the organisation of the imperial administration during the late imperial epoch.[36] Another inscriptional text from the same period offering us a picture of the social and economic conditions of the times is the famous Edict of Prices (Edictum de pretiis, 304 AD) of Emperor Diocletian who, in an effort to stabilise the currency, stipulated maximum prices and wages over a detailed range of goods and services.[37] Information on the social and economic conditions that prevailed at different stages of Roman history is derived also from inscriptions on tomb-stones and mausoleums of various ages.[38] A rich source of information about every aspect of Roman life are, moreover, the numerous letters and other documents which have been preserved on leaves of papyrus, parchment and on clay and wooden tablets. Recorded on leaves of papyrus are, for example, records of legal proceedings, legal decisions, tax records, official memoranda, leases, sales, petitions to the imperial government, contracts and wills, private accounts and letters. This category includes also ostraca, bits of broken pot on which are recorded, for instance, tax receipts and receipts for military rations.[39]
More on the topic Epigraphic sources:
- It is difficult to provide a comprehensive and finite list of the sources of Roman law, since the Roman jurists never defined the term 'source of law' and different sources were emphasized at certain periods in the history of the Roman legal system to reflect their prominence as instruments of legal reform.
- Sources of Roman Legal History
- The sources of European Union law
- The term ‘sources of law’ is used in many senses.
- Sources of law in the Empire
- Other literary sources
- Sources of law in the Republic
- Sources of obligations: contracts and delicts
- II. SOURCES OF THE LAW
- Sources of Law
- INDEX TO SOURCES
- The sources of law
- Sources of Roman law
- List of archival sources
- Sources and Classifications of Obligations
- Sources of Roman law