The State, the Law, and the People in the Roman Empire
A Sourcebook

Judicious collection of legal texts in new translations, enabling their wider use in the study of Roman imperial history.

Brian Campbell (Edited and translated by)

9781107163164, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 11 December 2025

532 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 3 cm, 1.001 kg

This volume makes more widely available to students and teachers the treasure trove of evidence for the administrative, social, and economic history of Rome contained in the Digest and Codex of Justinian. What happened when people encountered the government exercising legal jurisdiction through governors, magistrates, and officials within the legal framework and laws sponsored by the state? How were the urban environment of Rome and Italy, the state's assets, and human relations managed? How did the mechanisms of control in the provinces affect local life and legal processes? How were contracts devised and enforced? How did banks operate? What was the experience of going to court like, and how did you deal with assault or insult or recover loss? How did you rent a farm or an apartment and protect ownership? The emperor loomed over everything, being the last resort in moderating relations between state and subject.

List of abbreviations
List of maps
Preface
Introduction
1. Status and responsibility: freedom, slavery, citizenship
2. Public and private interests: Rome and Italy
3. Public and private interests: the provinces
4. Economic life
5. Government, citizens and property
6. Crime and punishment
7. Appearing in court
8. The emperor and the law
Glossary
List of jurists and principal authors
Index of passages cited
General index.

Subject Areas: Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA]