The Interpretationlang=EN-US>
The close connection between religion and law in the archaic period accounts for the special role of the pontiffs as guardians and interpreters of the norms by which early Roman society was governed.
For a long period after the founding of the city the pontiffs had a monopoly of legal knowledge and played a key part in the formulation, articulation and application of law.[403] As they alone were acquainted with the technical forms employed in private transactions, it was to them that private citizens went when they needed advice on how to prepare legal documents, such as contracts and wills, aimed at securing certainty in legal relations. The pontiffs also assisted parties at law on matters of legal procedure and drafted the forms which they had to employ in conducting their suits. Moreover, it was upon their opinions that magistrates, judges and litigants relied when faced with difficult questions of law. After the introduction of the Law of the Twelve Tables, the pontiffs continued in their role of giving opinions on questions of law. Apart from the fact that the Twelve Tables did not contain the technical forms that had to be used when litigation took place, the provisions of the code themselves required interpretation for their application. Thus an important part of the pontiffs' work was occupied in giving practical expression to the code's provisions. In carrying out this task the pontiffs extended or restricted the scope of a legal rule, as the case before them demanded, and, on occasion, they introduced entirely new rules under the cover of interpretation to deal with new situations. An example of lawmaking through interpretation is the way in which the release of a son from his father's control was made possible. A father, in exercise of the absolute power he had over his children, could sell a son to another person for money on the understanding that after he completed his work for that person the son would again return under his father's control. Table IV 3 provided that if a father sold his son three times, the son would be free from paternal authority (patria potestas). This provision was intended to protect a son against exploitation by his father. But the code contained no specific rule as to how a father could release a son from his patria potestas. However, as time went on, the need arose for some means of emancipating children. Thus the pontiffs seized upon Table IV 3 and, under the pretence of interpretation, introduced the rule that if a father made a fictional three-fold sale of his son to another person the son would be released from partia potestas and become sui iuris (a person in control of his own affairs).[404] This example shows how a legal provision was utilised to achieve a purpose quite different from that which the legislator had in mind and how, through interpretation, a new norm was created to deal with a new situation. In carrying out the task of interpretation the pontiffs laid the groundwork for the development of Roman legal science.[405]41
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