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Post-classical Period of the Roman Law

By: Anavitarte, E. J.*

The post-classical period of the Roman law spans from the death of Alexander Severus in 235 AD, until the legal compilation ordered by Justiniano I in 533 AD, it coincides with the Dominate period of the Roman Empire.

At a general level, it responds to the social context of the Dominate, in which emperor became the only legitimate source of law, by means of the imperial edicts.

It is characterized by the disappearance of the classical era legal schools, because of the council of jurists gradually became permanent bureaucratic bodies; it is here when the main imperial constitutions were produced, which were compilations of law in a state centralized way.

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Delimitation of the Post-classical Period

The post-classical period, or postclassic, corresponds to the historical period of the Dominate, or Lower Roman Empire, during which legal production was completely concentrated on the figure of the Dominus─emperor, imperator─who concentrated almost all of the own powers of the state.

Historical periods of Roman law
Historical periods of Roman law

Product of the administrative crisis that the Empire had for more than a century, a crisis broke out in 235, due to the succession of Alexander Severus, the last of the Severe, and that would end in a period of almost 50 years of military anarchy, until Diocletian re-took power (284) and undertook a comprehensive reform to the structure of the Roman state.

Thus, this period would last from the reforms of Diocletian (285), until the fall of Rome (476).

Changes of the Post-classical Period

After the reforms of Diocletian, Roman law radically changed, on the one hand, (a) sources of law would only become the imperial constitutions, with the senatus-consulta and plebiscites disappearing, and imperial constitutions becoming synonymous with law.

The study of Roman law during this period is the study of these codes.

  • Sources were concentrated
  • Judicial process was unified
  • Private law was Christianized

In addition, (b) the judicial trial universally adopted the extraordinary procedure, so that the old distinctions between praetor and judge disappeared completely, and therefore the way in which jurisdiction was resorted to.

And in private law the social reforms that had been appearing during the previous two centuries are consolidated: (c) agnation and cognation become very similar, (d) colonato and life rights were fully developed, (e) marriage and divorce become Christianized, as (f) the power of the paterfamilias to regulate private law diminishes.

Characteristics of the Post-classical Period

At the academic level, there is a decrease in the number of outstanding jurists and the creation of legal knowledge, who were replaced by the Roman bureaucratic apparatus, and at the social level there is an application of law to very rough areas of the empire, since all the inhabitants had acquired sufficient rights to be able to use the Roman judicial apparatus.

These two factors led the law to be codified (codex) due to the extent number of people were required to be attended to, in very geographically disparate areas, with very different customs, and without the number of praetors trained in philosophy or law in an adequate way to attend to said demand.

This phenomenon is called the vulgarization of Roman law, and it was precisely this process of vulgarization that allowed it to expand and create the foundations of the model of continental law that we know today.

Here the law is attached to the action formulas that the plaintiff cites as applicable in their case, and the magistrate from the copies he possesses, is in charge of verifying that they meet or not the requirements to be applied.

An example of all this process of doctrinal unification was the Law of Quotations of the year 426 AD that established the official sources that could be considered valid in the trial, and the ways in which a magistrate should use them.

Its name post-classical Law refers precisely to the fact that during this period most of the legal activity was focused on maintaining, consolidating, structuring and applying classical law.

Roman Law

Table of Contents

  1. Delimitation
  2. Changes
  3. Characteristics

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Anavitarte, E. J. (2019, May). Post-classical Period of the Roman Law. Academia Lab. https://academia-lab.com/2019/05/22/the-post-classical-period-of-roman-law/