Roman Law and the Legal World of the Romans

The Legal Professions

loudmouths. Like the pragmatici , they are spoken of as work ing for wages, which again suggests a class distinction. At least one elite author admits there is no significant functional dis tinction. It has been suggested that there was more mobility between functions at this level than at the top of the profes sions. While this is entirely plausible, there really isn’t enough evidence to tell. Somewhat different from these two groups are the formu larii or legulei . The terms are derived from the formula at the heart of civil procedure (see Chapter 11) and the basic word for “law.” On the one hand, formularii are, like the causidici , associated with some less-than-respectable professions. On the other, there does seem to be a functional difference. They seem to be specialists even within the law, worrying over the details of legal drafting. Perhaps the same is true for the even less well attested tabelliones (“tablet men”). Because of the nature of the evidence, it has been neces sary to speak of these lower-status professionals as being at the margins of the system. In some respects that may be accu rate; they did not shape the monuments of the law (statutes, edicts, juristic commentary) like the better-known advocates and jurists. At the same time, most people who had contact with the legal system presumably did not do so through the ancient equivalents of celebrity lawyers and Harvard law pro fessors. They went to the local man who had spent time in courts or had helped a neighbor draft a will or contract. Thus these “minor” figures may actually have been the real face of Roman law.

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