Roman Law and the Legal World of the Romans

Writing and the Law

with a particular form of writing that was important for legal activities. Roman legal sources have very little to say specifically about the value of writing as evidence. Most of the few texts just point out that it is rarely necessary, though there might be an implication that it is generally better to have documents on your side. The question seems, however, to have been of much more interest to the rhetoricians – professors of public speak ing whose central focus was training young men to speak in the courts. We have many rhetorical handbooks, and they all explain in general terms how an advocate should handle docu mentary evidence and oral testimony. Ignoring the detail, we can note simply that any lawyer would have been able to argue for or against the value of either, depending on what was more useful for his side. Some have argued that this advice shows a slight preference for written evidence, but the clearer and more important point is that speakers were prepared for either. A specific kind of evidence that might come into play could be something called today by the Latin name of testatio . This is not a pre-existing document like a contract or file called into the proceedings, nor is it a part of the legal proceeding itself, like a summons to court. Rather, it is a statement or affidavit, recording someone’s testimony and introduced by one of the parties. In some cases, this kind of document had an obvious practical value. A faraway witness, or simply one who did not wish to appear in public, could not be compelled to appear but might be willing to put his or her words in writing. It also seems to have been common enough for corporate bodies to

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