Roman Law and the Legal World of the Romans

Roman Law and the Legal World of the Romans

by the two sides. The end result was a panel of roughly twenty five to seventy-five jurors (and, ideally, an odd number). The hearing of a case proceeded in much the same way as a private case: long speeches followed by witness testimony and other evidence. Both sides were typically represented by advocates. There was little intervention by the government in terms of admissible evidence, subpoenas (in most cases), discovery, and so forth. And not only was there no detailed charge to the jury (the elaborate legal instructions given by a judge today), but there was not even a formula of the sort given in Roman private cases. At the end of the trial, the jurors did not deliberate but simply voted, and a majority vote won. There was no appeal from their verdict. The system of the standing inquiries came to try seven offenses: electoral bribery, provincial extortion, homicide, riot, forgery, theft of public property, and treason. Full definitions and punishments will be listed later. Two general points about penalties need to be made first. Several of the offenses carried a “capital” penalty. In theory, this might mean execution (as it does today), but in practice that punishment seems rarely or never to have been carried out on Roman citizens. Rather, they were allowed to slip into exile abroad (and possibly have their property confiscated). This way out is part of a broader pat tern. None of the penalties for Roman citizens involved corporal Republican Offenses

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