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An Outline Of Roman Civil Procedure, Ernest Metzger

Ernest Metzger

This is a broad discussion of the key feature of Roman civil procedure, including sources, lawmaking, and rules. It covers the three principal models for procedure; special proceedings; appeals; magistrates; judges; and representation. It takes account of new evidence on procedure discovered in the last century, and introduces some of the newer arguments on familiar but controversial topics. Citations to the literature allow further study.

Agree To Disagree: Local Jurisdiction In The Lex Irnitana, Ernest Metzger

Ernest Metzger

The lex Irnitana (AD 91) is one of our principal sources for Roman civil procedure during the classical period. In character it is a municipal charter for a muncipium in Baetica. It contains extensive provisions on the conduct of civil lawsuits, and among its most contested provisions is Chapter 84 on jurisdiction. The main point of disagreement: was it possible only to have 'small lawsuits' heard locally, or might the parties, by agreement, consent to have lawsuits of substantial value heard also? The disagreement is of much greater significance than this single inscription might suggest: Roman civil procedure underwent revolutionary …

Adam Smith's Historical Jurisprudence And The "Method Of The Civilians", Ernest Metzger

Ernest Metzger

Smith lectured in jurisprudence at the University of Glasgow from 1751 to 1764, and various records of these lectures survive. Since Smith never completed a treatise on law, these records are the principal source for his theory of lawmaking. In his final year at Glasgow, Smith undertook to reorganize the course of lectures: he began with a series of lectures on "forms of government," where formerly these lectures had fallen at the very end. He explained that his reorganized lectures followed the method of the civilians (i.e., contemporary writers on Roman law), and that this method was to be preferred. …

Lawsuits In Context, Ernest Metzger

Ernest Metzger

The study of Roman procedure has benefited enormously from the discovery of wooden tablets near Pompeii. Unfortunately, the tablets are sometimes misinterpreted, for the simple reason that the procedures they describe do not always match the procedures which more familiar sources have led us to believe existed. The tablets, in fact, give us the rare opportunity to revise our understanding of procedure, particularly when taken together with another remarkable find, the lex Irnitana. This article gives a sketch of the ‘new’ Roman civil procedure now available to us as a result of these exciting finds.

In: J. W. Cairns and …

Roman Judges, Case Law, And Principles Of Procedure, Ernest Metzger

Ernest Metzger

Roman law has been admired for a long time. Its admirers, in their enthusiasm, have sometimes borrowed ideas from their own time and attributed them to the Romans, thereby filling some gap or fixing some anomaly. Roman private law is a well known victim of this. Roman civil procedure has been a victim as well, and the way Roman judges are treated in the older literature provides an example. For a long time it has been accepted, and rightly so, that the decision of a Roman judge did not make law. But the related, empirical question, whether Roman judges ever …