NEWS: 73rd conference of the Société Internationale Fernand de Visscher pour l’Histoire des Droits de l’Antiquité (SIHDA) to be held at The University of Edinburgh (2-7 September 2019)

(Source: University of Edinburgh)

We just learned that the Société Internationale Fernand de Visscher pour l’Histoire des Droits de l’Antiquité has decided that its 73rd conference, in 2019, will be held at the University of Edinburgh. Here the announcement:

It was decided in Krakow that the 73^rd Session of the Société Internationale Fernand de Visscher pour l’Histoire des Droits de l’Antiquité (SIHDA) conference will be held at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. The conference will commence on Monday evening, 2^nd September 2019, and end on Saturday, 7^thSeptember 2019. The central theme, decided in Krakow, is:

“Le Droit et sa Place dans le Monde Antique”

Scholars are invited to submit proposals for papers dealing with specific aspects of legal doctrine in the Graeco-Roman world and their reception into subsequent epochs of legal development in Europe and elsewhere. In addition, we also warmly invite scholars to submit proposals for papers on the law of the Graeco-Roman world as a historical and cultural topos and its ideological legacies in subsequent periods of legal thought in Europe and elsewhere.

Papers should be no more than 20 minutes in length with an additional 10 minutes allocated for discussion. Papers may be given in English, Italian, German or Spanish. Details concerning the submission of paper titles and abstracts will be communicated with the first call for papers.

(Source: https://www.sihda2019.law.ed.ac.uk)

LECTURE: Professor Paul J. Du Plessis on “Reflections on Futures Past” (University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Law School, Inaugural Lecture), 10 OCTOBER 2018

(Source: University of Edinburgh)

Professor Paul J. Du Plessis will hold the inaugural lecture at Edinburgh Law School on 10 October 2018. The event is open to everyone, but registration is required.

Speaker: Paul J. Du Plessis

Professor of Roman Law, Edinburgh Law School, The University of Edinburgh.

Abstract

As one of the most sophisticated legal cultures of the ancient Mediterranean, Roman law has been an enduring source of intellectual influence upon legal scholars across the ages. Much like the art, architecture, literature, and languages of the Greco-Roman world, the Romans and their culture feel strangely familiar even in 2018. This sense of familiarity is not the product of historical chance. It forms part of an evolving narrative concerning the medieval origins of law teaching in the universities of Northern Italy during the eleventh century. Since then, as the cornerstone of legal education for more than a millennium, the study of Roman law has fulfilled many different functions, whether as a component of the medieval European ius commune, the foundations of natural law in the early-modern period or a repository of positivist rules in the late nineteenth century. Moreover, although one might expect such a narrative to be thoroughly researched and utterly stable after such a length of time, the past changes frequently as discoveries come to light, and as new interpretations of the significance of historical events are put forward. Much work remains to be done, therefore, on the broader historical narrative, the ideologies as well as the societal forces (economic, social, political and otherwise), that drove the adoption or rejection of particular Roman legal rules in the past. But the study of Roman law is not merely an exercise in legal archaeology. Although the events of the twentieth century have affected the relationship between Roman law and modern law, history did not end with codification, and Roman law continues to exert a powerful influence on contemporary legal development. This lecture aims to assess the scope and function of this influence against the backdrop of contemporary debates about the nature of Scots law and the role of history in the development of law more generally. 

Date and time

Wednesday 10 October 2018

6:00pm - 7:30pm 

Location

Adam Lecture Theatre, Edinburgh Law School, Old College.

These events are free and open to everyone, but registration is required. 

Register for this event  

More information here

BOOK: Alex IMRIE, The Antonine Constitution : An Edict for the Caracallan Empire [Impact of Empire] (Leiden/New York: Brill, 2018). ISBN 978-90-04-36822-4, €94.00

(Source: Brill)

Brill has just published a book on the Constitutio Antoniniana.

ABOUT THE BOOK

In The Antonine Constitution, Alex Imrie approaches the famous edict of AD 212 from numerous angles, offering an assessment of its rationale that is rooted in the dynamic period of the early third century. Controversial since its discovery, it is depicted here as a keystone in Caracalla’s attempt to revolutionise the public image of the Severan dynasty after murdering his brother.

There is an inherent paradox between the apparently progressive nature of the edict, and the volatile emperor responsible for it. The enigma is only heightened by a dearth of ancient evidence relating to the legislation. By combining literary and material evidence with the surviving papyrological record, Alex Imrie shows that Caracalla’s rationale is best understood in an embedded context.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alex Imrie, Ph.D. (2015), is a Tutor in Classics at the University of Edinburgh. He divides his time between teaching and outreach activities across Scotland. He has published articles on Caracalla and the Severan period. This is his first monograph.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface
List of Abbreviations
List of Figures, Table and Illustration

Introduction
 The Antonine Constitution in Scholarship
 An Edict for the Caracallan Empire

1 Contexts
 The Historical Context: 193–212
 The Antonine Constitution in Ancient Literature
 The Role of the Jurists
 The Antonine Constitution and the Giessen Papyrus

2 The Fiscal Rationale
 Early Imperial Economic Activity
 Decline and Crisis in the High Empire
 The Severan Recovery
 The Economy under Caracalla
 The Economic Function of the Antonine Constitution
 The Vicesima Hereditatum
 The Purpose of Caracallan Fiscal Innovation

3 The Military Rationale
 Obstacles to Legionary Recruitment
 The Severan Reforms
 The Military Application of the Antonine Constitution

4 Alexander Imitatio
 Alexandrian Influences in the Antonine Constitution
 Alexander Iconography in the Caracallan Empire
 The Political Significance of Alexander Iconography

5 Securing the Caracallan Empire
 The Drive for Aequitas
 Re-writing the Severan Past
 A Religious Offering
 The Indulgentissimus Princeps
 A Social Contract

Epilogue

Appendix
 Text, Translation and Commentary of the Giessen Papyrus
Bibliography
Index 

More information with the publisher

SEMINAR: The Next Meeting of the Edinburgh Roman Law Group (Edinburgh, 3 December 2014)

WHAT: Property: An Essay in Fan Fiction, meeting of the Edinburgh Roman Law Group

WHERE: MacCormick Seminar Lorimer Room, Old College, Edinburgh

WHEN: 3 December 2014, 5:30 pm

all information here

Speaker

James Lee (Dickson Poon School of Law, KCL)

The speaker has provided the following blurb:

“This paper draws upon Roman and contemporary debates about the scope and applicability of property rights in certain instances to consider the extent to which ‘property’ is used in an instrumental and fictive way. It argues that, properly understood, property rights are not essentially fictional, but that their misapplication is potentially harmful to the coherence of the law.”

WORKSHOP: "Accounting techniques and accounting practises in Roman Law" (Edinburgh, 30 May 2014)

What: "Accounting techniques and accounting practises in Roman Law", Workshop

Where: University of Edinburgh, room 364, old college

When: 30 May 2014, 9 am - 6 pm

All information here

NOTICE: next meeting of the Edinburgh Roman Law Group (Edinburgh, 28 March 2014)

What: Between utendum dare and beneficium: thoughts on the early history of the commodatum, Meeting of the Edinburgh Roman Law Group

Where: Lorimer Room, Old College University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh

When: 28 March 2014, 5:30 pm

Speaker:

Philipp Scheibelreiter, University of Vienna / Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich

According to Alan Watson and other scholars, the history of commodatum as a real contract starts with the introduction of two formulae, one in factum and the other in ius concepta. The creation of these was necessitated by the absence of any specific legal remedies to protect the lender in a loan for use. While, according to the Twelve Tables, a depositor could use the actio ex causa depositi, the lender was not protected by any special penal action. With that said, the phenomenon of borrowing things to use them gratuitously must have existed long before the time of the late Roman Republic and must have given rise to conflict. The aim of the paper is to examine the early history of commodatum by reconsidering sources such as the comedies of Plautus where the expression utendum dare is used in different contexts. This will be done to cast light on early Roman legal practice and to explore the origins of commodatum.