Roman Law and the Legal World of the Romans

Social Control

pick status. Mechanisms were lacking for those who picked freedom.

Maintaining Order

So how did the Romans maintain public order without a large police force or other state apparatus to do so? In part, they may not have. Rome seems to have been, among other things, a more violent place than would be tolerated in a modern Western city. But the lawmaking class was protected by high walls and private security. Also, self-help (whether in forms encouraged by the law or not) may have kept really antiso cial behavior in check. Perhaps thefts were discouraged by the threat of vendetta. But to the extent that the provisions of the law just discussed were designed to maintain order, we can perhaps discern two main principles at work. The first is that of exemplarity. When the law did take action, it did so in the most visible way possible. So, for instance, many criminal offenses could be committed only by members of the elite, guaranteeing that most trials would be celebrity trials. The public shaming involved in the censorial mark or infamia was designed to “make an example of” the offender. The other principle is mutual surveillance. The lack of any state pros ecutor opened criminal prosecution up to everyone (Chapter 19). Rewards were offered to successful prosecutors (citizen ship, legal immunities, even cash) to encourage participation. Restrictions on public participation would be enforced by

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