A New Outline of the Roman Civil Trial

Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1997.  184 pp.  ISBN 978-0-19-826474-3.

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By Ernest Metzger

In 1981 a series of bronze tablets were discovered in southwestern Spain.  The tablets contained most of the text of a municipal charter for a small Roman town that existed on the site.  This charter, the lex Irnitana, describes at length the procedure to be followed in local civil lawsuits.  This procedure mirrors the procedure at Rome.

This book is substantially devoted to analysing this new evidence for the law of procedure.  The book discusses at length how trials got underway; how judges were selected; and how trials were adjourned.

Reviews

  • Journal of Legal History, 19 (1998), 186 (David Ibbetson)
  • Cambridge Law Journal (1998), 413 (John Crook)
  • Journal of Roman Studies, 89 (1999), 235 (Andrew Lintott)
  • Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte, rom. Abt., 117 (1999), 381 (Karl Hackl)
  • Tijdschrift voor Rechtsgeschiedenis, 68 (2000), 123 (Dario Mantovani)
  • The Classical Outlook, 77 (2000), 85 (Peter King)