Introductory
During the Principate Roman law reached its highest point of development. This was largely due to the influence of the jurists, through whose achievements the genius of the Romans for law found its full scope.
The role of the jurists grew in importance after Augustus granted to specially qualified jurists the right of speaking with imperial authority (ius respondendi), thus giving them for the first time a constitutional position. Gradually the most distinguished jurists were drawn into the imperial circle and, from the time of Hadrian (117-138 AD), they exercised their chief functions as members of the administrative apparatus of the emperor. During the same period important changes were taking place in the field of legislation. With the concentration of more and more power in the hands of the emperor, decrees emanating from the imperial chancery (constitutiones principum) became the principal source of law. The growth of imperial legislative authority was gradual and the first emperors generally achieved their legislative ends through action of the assemblies and the senate. But by the end of the first century AD the assemblies had ceased to play a part in the legislative process. Although its role in legislation was now ftilly recognised, the senate lost much of its earlier independence as a constitutional body and, in time, senatorial legislation tended to become a mere instrument in the emperor's hands. The ius praetorium, the body of law derived from the edicts of the praetors, continued to exist, but praetorian initiatives now became increasingly rare. About 130 AD the content of the edictum perpetuum was fixed once and for all, and from that time the ius praetorium ceased to operate as an independent source of law.
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