Roman Law and the Legal World of the Romans

Roman Law and the Legal World of the Romans

were many opportunities for Roman citizens to live and work with nearby citizens of numerous other communities, hence the need for expanded access to Roman law just described. In theory, some other uniform system for all Italy could have done just as well, but the Romans were vastly more powerful than any of the other remaining states, so naturally they were able to impose their own law as the principal solution. When, however, Rome moved out to conquer the Mediterranean basin and the rest of its eventual territory, the administration of the resulting empire was much different than it had been closer to home. When Romans conquered territory, they often estab lished a permanent government there, sending governors who collected taxes and exercised final authority. Independent com munities continued to exist in some places, as they had in Italy, and their people were clearly not Roman citizens, but they were in a much clearer position of subordination. Moreover, this meant that Romans had authority over disputes in which neither party was actually a Roman. As a matter of legal theory, the simplest way to deal with this situation might have been the following: In disputes between two Romans, Roman law could be applied in normal fashion, with the provincial governor taking the place of the praetor. Disputes between two citizens of an alien community would continue to be resolved under their local law. In cases of mixed citizenship, the “right” solution is less clear, but there does seem to have been a general principle that a person was to be sued in his or her own place of residence; perhaps the rule could have been generalized to use the defendant’s legal system

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