Academic Works of Roman Jurists Regarding Criminal Law

Abstract

Roman jurists started to work on the criminal law only in days of the Empire. First works on this dedicated to public judicial proceedings included De iudiciis publicis created mainly by Maecianus, Marcianus, Macer, Venuleius Saturninus. Apart from them the following should also be mentioned: De officio proconsulis by Ulpian, De cognitionibus by Callistratus. Works on the issues of penalties are:  De poenis omnium legum, De poenis paganorum by Paulus; De poenis by Modestyn; and De poenis paganorum by Claudius Saturninus. Most of the above-mentioned works are commentaries directed at judge practitioners, more specifically, at imperial officials having specific jurisdictional functions. However, among them we can also find ones of the academic nature focused on criminal law and criminal action, such as De poenis paganorum by Claudius Saturninus. Many of the above-mentioned works are of substantive and procedural nature. In works of Roman jurists on criminal law one can see specific efforts or attempts at systematizing discussed legal material. Unfortunately, in the majority of works it is difficult to find such vivid and complex statements or even academic debates as on private law, not to mention any critique of imperial constitutions. This was caused by an authoritarian character of Roman national power and system of criminal judicature that was closely connected to this power. Thus, it was very difficult for the jurists to conduct free jurisprudence activity.