Law and Crime in the Roman World (Key Themes in Ancient History) | 
 enlarge | Author: Jill Harries
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $90.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 2437939
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 158
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6 x 0.6
ISBN: 0521828201
Dewey Decimal Number: 340.54
EAN: 9780521828208
ASIN: 0521828201
Publication Date: December 10, 2007
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Condition: BRAND NEW
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Product Description
What was crime in ancient Rome? Was it defined by law or social attitudes? How did damage to the individual differ from offences against the community as a whole? This book explores competing legal and extra-legal discourses in a number of areas, including theft, official malpractice, treason, sexual misconduct, crimes of violence, homicide, magic and perceptions of deviance. It argues that court practice was responsive to social change, despite the ingrained conservatism of the legal tradition, and that judges and litigants were in part responsible for the harsher operation of justice in Late Antiquity. Consideration is also given to how attitudes to crime were shaped not only by legal experts but also by the rhetorical education and practices of advocates, and by popular and even elite indifference to the finer points of law.
Book Description
Roman rules about crime were constantly influenced by wider moral and social attitudes. This book explains how crime was treated in the Roman legal tradition, but also examines topics such as the politicisation of corruption and treason, and ancient legal and social debates on sex, violence, murder and magic.
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An intimate, if sobering, look at life in the Roman Empire June 8, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
`Law and Crime in the Roman World' should be essential reading for anyone interested in civilian life and society in the Roman Empire and late Republic. Using a variety of contemporary sources from the 2nd Century BC to the 5th Century AD, Jill Harries takes a scholarly look at crime, law, and its enforcement in the Roman world.
All major forms of crime are discussed to some degree, including murder, gang violence, rape, incest, adultery, abortion, Christianity and membership of `cultic' religions, witchcraft, robbery, and speaking ill of the Emperor. On the other hand, very little is said of some other crimes, namely financial-related ones. Issues concerning Roman law that were controversial at the time, such as whether rape, abortion, and other sexual offences were crimes against the woman/child or crimes against the community as a whole, and whether or not torture should be used, and if so on whom and to what degree, are also looked at in some detail.
Though the Romans had a very well-organized and functional (if corrupt and bribery-infested) legal and judicial system, enforcement of the law could be brutal. Death by crucifixion, the beasts, or burning at the stake was not reserved for Christian martyrs but was also the fate of deserters, traitors, disobedient or un-favored slaves (who had often been framed by fellow slaves), and petty criminals. Live burial was also used as a punishment for offenders, including most famously Vestal Virgins who had affairs while in service. Only upper-class citizens had the luxury of being beheaded, and even they were often subjected to more gruesome means in the later Empire.
A trend in the Roman legal world that is well captured in this book is that law and law enforcement became increasingly brutal in the later days of the Empire. From the middle of the 3rd Century onwards, the emperors became increasingly paranoid (often for good reason) and subsequently important officials and common civilians alike often suffered at his hand, and often underwent frightful tortures. This is best illustrated in the writings of the 4th Century military officer Ammianus Marcellinus.
This books is very well-sourced. The author professionally reveals the sources for all her information and makes personal research from the writings of the Imperial jurists and historians easy. Overall, it is an indispensable source on the law enforcement, jurists, trials, punishments, and crimes used in the Roman world from the late Republic down to the fall of the West; I highly recommend it for anyone interested in Roman studies.
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