The senatorial and imperial law courts in the city of Rome in the works of Tacitus and Pliny the Younger (1st and 2nd century AD)

Author(s)

Dominique Monge Rodrigues de Souza

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Franca. 2019-09-30.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais. Franca
• Defense date: 2019-08-23
• Advisor: Margarida Maria de Carvalho

Abstract

This study’s goal is to analyze the senatorial and imperial law courts through Pliny the Younger’s works Letters and Panegyric to Trajan, as well as Tacitus' works Dialogue on Oratory, Agricola, Histories and Annals I-VI. The judiciary structure of the city of Rome, during the Principate, featured different law courts. Although it encompasses the jurisdiction of different law courts, this thesis will focus on the interpretation of the accusations of maiestas and repetundae reported by these two Roman senators that were installed in the senatorial and imperial law courts. Both courts of justice became privileged environments for the analysis of the negotiations between the Senate and the princeps, and, for this reason, they are the objects of our study. We will see how the choice for a law court and the procedures employed in the trials of the processes were permeated by negotiations between the Senate and the regent emperors. As discussed, Tacitus and Pliny centered their narratives around the (im)balance of function distribution and legal and political-administrative powers between the Senate and the princeps. Thus, we will investigate the hypothesis of an interweaving between the political-administrative practices and the legal practices during the Principate. In this way, we will proceed to the study of the accusations of repetundae and maiestas identified in our sources. The crimen repetundarum and the crimen maiestatis, in a broad manner, criminalized, respectively, bribery committed by provincial governors and threats against Rome, the emperor, or members of the imperial family. All the selected cases happened in the city of Rome, in specific moments of Roman political history, namely: the Augustus’ principate (27 BC-14 AD) and Tiberius (14-37 AD); the succession crisis following the death of Nero, in 68 AD; the Domitian’s principate (81-96 AD) and Trajan (98-117 AD). As we will see, the disputes happening in these contexts affected the juridical organization of the Empire and the relationship between the Senate and the princeps. Centering our interpretation around this specific view, we will make an attempt at comprehending the fluidity of law enforcement and the different procedures employed in the senatorial and in the imperial court, as well as mapping the disputes and negotiations between emperors and senators pertaining the accusations, the trials, the convictions and the sentences applied in the contexts we will analyze. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 15/07270-9 - Courts of justice in the city of Rome in reports of Tacitus and Pliny the Younger (I-II century A.D.)
• Grantee: Dominique Monge Rodrigues de Souza
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate