Roman Law and the Legal World of the Romans

Roman Law and the Legal World of the Romans

Violence

Early Roman law and tradition had, if not encouraged, at least accepted a fair amount of self-help in protecting one’s own rights. We know of several forms of more or less ritualized protest and shaming that a wronged party might use to get jus tice from the supposed wrongdoer: harassing verses, appear ing in public in mourning clothes, and simply calling out for aid. Various legal procedures, such as the most basic forms of legal summons and claim to ownership, involved the symbolic enactment of force. Even in the late Republic, disputes over land could be initiated by the symbolic ejection of one party from the disputed land. Now, much of this did not directly involve real violence, but it certainly pointed in that direction. There were also situations and rules that led more directly to the use of force. Defense of one’s own person, even in situa tions not threatening death, was taken to justify use of force in response. Members of the elite, at least, habitually traveled with armed guards, especially outside cities. Even at lower levels of society, ownership of weapons was probably com mon. There were no real legal restrictions, and many men had done military service. Under certain circumstances, wrongdo ers caught in the act (thieves, adulterers) could be killed by the injured party. Bodily injury could be redressed in early law by exacting a parallel injury. Creditors could sometimes recover a debt by directly seizing the debtor’s property or even his person. Slaves were subject to arbitrary violence from their owners (Chapter 12), and even attacks on them by others were

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