The law-schools
According to Pomponius, during the early Principate period Roman jurisprudence was dominated by two rival schools {sectae) of jurists, known as the Proculians and the Sabinians.[961] Although during this period there were numerous private schools (stationes) in Rome where law was being taught,[962] it appears that these two schools played a special part in Roman legal life.
It is not clear, however, what Pomponius meant by the term 'sectae' and it is impossible to determine with certainty what the basis of the rivalry between the two schools was. According to some scholars, these schools were not regular teaching institutions; they were probably closer in character to aristocratic clubs or unions formed by lawyers for the discussion of legal and political issues under the guidance of leading jurists. Others have suggested that the two schools espoused different philosophical theories: the Sabinians were adherents of Stoicism, while the Proculians followed the principles of Aristotelian (peripatetic) philosophy. The examples known to us, however, do not show the alleged conservatism of the Sabinians or the reformatory spirit attributed to the Proculians, and it appears that, in reality, there were no deep-rooted philosophical or political differences that separated the two schools. Notwithstanding the political affiliations of their founders, the schools appear to have differed only with respect to the techniques and methods which they adopted in dealing with questions of law rather than in their general attitudes or principles. In general, it is believed that, when dealing with legal problems, the Sabinians preferred to adhere to the letter of the law, while the Proculians endeavoured to discover the purpose of the relevant enactment and then to decide according to its spirit.[963]Pomponius relates that the school of the Proculeans was formed around Marcus Antistius Labeo, whilst that of the Sabinians was founded by Ateius Capito.[964] Both lived in the time of Augustus and were for a time political rivals. A staunch supporter of the republican political system and opponent of the Augustan regime, Labeo held the office of praetor but refused the position of consul when it was offered to him by Augustus.[965] He was the author of a number of influential works, including an extensive commentary on the Law of the Twelve Tables, commentaries on the edicts of the praetor urbanus and the praetor peregrinus, and several collections of responsa and epistulae.
At the time of his death his writings amounted to 400 volumes.[966] Capito is said to have been a keen supporter of Augustus by whom he was elevated to the position of consul.[967] His works were relatively few in number and included a collection of quaestiones relating to matters of public law, a book de officio senatorio, collections of epistulae and a number of books on the ius pontificum. But neither Labeo nor Capito established regular schools themselves, nor did they give regular tuition in the form of connected lectures; they taught law as the earlier republican jurists did, i.e. by giving answers to legal questions in the presence of students with whom they sometimes discussed problems that emerged out of actual or hypothetical cases. The schools of the Proculians and the Sabinians continued to operate well into the second century AD. Among the most distinguished members of the Proculian school were the two Nervas, Pegasus and the Celsi; to the school of the Sabinians belonged the jurists Cassius Longinus, lavolenus, Salvius lulianus and Gaius.
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