Roman Law and the Legal World of the Romans

21. Law in the Provinces EEE

M ost of this book has assumed that the persons involved in its situations were Romans living in Rome (or perhaps their slaves). Roman law, however, was fairly sensi tive both to the citizenship of individuals and to the location of a given legal dispute. (Since one’s birth citizenship rarely changed, citizenship and location often do not line up.) Thus we need to think at least a little about several other situa tions: Romans interacting with each other abroad, Romans and aliens interacting (both in Rome and elsewhere), and two non Romans interacting within an area of Roman rule.

Citizenship and Jurisdiction

The central principle is what we today call the “personality principle.” That is, the law that governs you depends more on who you are than on where you are. Consider, for instance, an Athenian or Jewish couple living in Rome but without Roman citizenship. Were they legally married? What rights did they have against each other or any children? What happened to

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