Papinian

Papinian bas-relief at the U.S. Capitol.

Aemilius Papinianus (in Latin, Aemilius Papinianus), also known simply by the name Papinianus, (Syria, 142-Rome, 212) was a Roman jurist, magister libellorum and praetorian prefect of Emperor Septimius Severus. He was a disciple of the jurist Quintus Cervidio Scaevola and, since the Law of Citations of 426, the most prestigious and authoritative jurist in Rome.

Historical background

Little is known about Papinian's personal life. It has been supposed that he was born in Emesa (Syria), or in Africa around the year 150. He started the cursus honorum under Marcus Aurelius, together with Septimius Severus, of whom he was a close friend. When Septimius Severus became emperor, he appointed him magister libellorum , praetorian prefect, a position he held until the latter's death in 211, and a member of the emperor's Consilium . Before his death, the emperor specially entrusted his two sons to his: Geta and Caracalla.

Papiniano tried to maintain peace between Severus's sons, but both only thought of eliminating the other to stay in power. Finally, Caracalla assassinated his brother in the year 212 and ordered the death of Papinian, apparently for not having wanted to justify the murder before the Senate.

This fact would have given rise to the phrase «It is much easier to commit a parricide than to justify it» (non tam facile parricidium excusari posse quam fieri), although the authenticity history of this phrase is quite doubtful. The details of what happened vary according to the source, but it is practically beyond dispute that there was a relationship between Geta's fratricide and the death of Papinian, which occurred in the year 212.

Papiniano.

Works

His most important works were the Quaestiones in 37 books, written before 198, which corresponds more to the type of literature called Digesta, for contemplating the dogmatic study and the cases consulted and resolved by the author, and the Responsa, comments on real cases, in 19 books, written between 204 and the date of his death.

He also wrote two works with the same title: De adulteriis, two books of Definitiones and a text in Greek, in which he explained the obligations of magistrates and urban police officers, although it is suspected that this is a post-classical collection, which reproduces fragments of the Responsa. In the Digest 596 fragments of Papiniano are conserved.

Importance

Due to his legal talent and public life, coupled with his heroic death as a martyr for justice, Papinian is traditionally considered one of the "princes of Roman jurisprudence" and practically the quintessential jurist; for example, for Mommsen he was the greatest of the Roman jurists.

Among his qualities as a lawyer, among other traits, his independence of criteria and desire to seek equitable solutions have stood out, a different criterion from that followed by his predecessors, who were technically rigorous.

The Citation Law of 426, which regulated the recitatio of the works of jurists before the courts, that is, which jurists could be invoked and the criteria for the judge's decision in view of their diverse opinions, restricted their number to five, including Papiniano, but granted them pre-eminence among the classical Roman jurists by establishing that, if there was no majority in one sense or there was a tie between Gaius, Paulo, Ulpiano, Herenio Modestino and he, his opinion prevailed. In the event that it had not manifested itself on the matter, the judge was free to choose between the opinions presented by the parties.

In addition, within Justinian's Digest, his works are part of the so-called Papinian mass, that is, one of the four groups of texts used in its writing.

Papinian had such importance in Law that the two most important legislative compilations that the barbarians imposed on the Romans, the Breviary of Alaric, of the Visigoths, and the Roman law of the Burgundians, had separate chapters in which they compiled texts of this important jurist. So important was Papiniano for the Burgundians that the legislation imposed by them was known as El Papiano, for alluding to the jurist in question.