Law, Society, and Authority in Late Antiquity

341 Pages·2001·1.65 MB·English

by  Ralph W. Mathisen

LSAA01 29/05/2001 10:45 AM Page i
LAW, SOCIETY, AND AUTHORITY IN
LATE ANTIQUITY
LSAA01 29/05/2001 10:45 AM Page ii
LSAA01 29/05/2001 10:45 AM Page iii
Law, Society,
and Authority in
Late Antiquity
Edited by
RALPH W. MATHISEN
1
LSAA01 29/05/2001 10:45 AM Page iv
3
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford 
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide in
Oxford New York
Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogotá Buenos Aires Calcutta
Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul
Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai
Nairobi Paris São Paulo Shanghai Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw
and associated companies in Berlin Ibadan
Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press
in the UK and certain other countries
Published in the United States
by Oxford University Press Inc., New York
© Oxford University Press 
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
Database right Oxford University Press (maker)
First published 
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press,
or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate
reprographics rights organizations. Enquiries concerning reproduction
outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department,
Oxford University Press, at the address above
You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover
and you must impose the same condition on any acquirer
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Data applied for
ISBN---

Typeset by Graphicraft Limited, Hong Kong
Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper
by Biddles Ltd., Guildford & King’s Lynn
LSAA01 29/05/2001 10:45 AM Page v
For daedala D.
Ruricius nostris facibus dulcique veneno
tactus votivum suspirat corde dolorem.
esset si praesens aetas, impenderet illi
Lemnias imperium, Cressa stamen labyrinthi,
Alceste vitam, Circe herbas, poma Calypso,
Scylla comas, Atalanta pedes, Medea furores,
Hippodame ceras, cygno Iove nata coronam,
huic Dido in ferrum, simul in suspendia Phyllis,
Evadne in flammas et Sestias isset in undas . . .
Sidonius Apollinaris, Carmina . –
LSAA01 29/05/2001 10:45 AM Page vi
LSAA01 29/05/2001 10:45 AM Page vii
Preface
The sixteen studies presented below are the culmination
of the work of participants at the second biannual ‘Shifting
Frontiers in Late Antiquity’ conference, held at the Univer-
sity of South Carolina in March, . All but one, that of
the volume’s editor, were presented orally at the conference,
and all have undergone further extensive restyling and revi-
sion, not only as a result of discussions at the conference but
also so as to fit the theme of this volume.
Both the conference and this collection could not have been
produced without the lavish assistance of both individuals
and institutions. The conference was generously funded by
The College of Liberal Arts, The Office of the Provost, and
the Departments of History, English, Philosophy, Religious
Studies, and French and Classics, all of the University of South
Carolina. Dr Peter Becker, Chair of the Department of History
at the time, was especially forthcoming with both financial
and moral support. Additional thanks are due to the USC
Late Antiquity graduate student corps of Timothy Cox,
Allen Jones, Tracy Keefer (who also served as Administrat-
ive Assistant), Walter Roberts, and Wendell Tate, for doing
yeoman service ranging from registration work to chauf-
feuring duties. The production of this volume itself bene-
fited at an early stage from the editorial advice of Gillian
Clark, Jill Harries, and Hagith Sivan; and particular thanks
are due to Gillian for her coordination across the water with
Oxford University Press. Thanks are also extended to the
two anonymous referees for the press whose criticisms and
encouragement resulted in a much finer final product. It also
goes without saying that without the unflagging encourage-
ment, cogent advice, and genuine interest of Hilary O’Shea,
Classics Editor for Oxford University Press, this book never
could have been produced. And finally, profound thanks and
LSAA01 29/05/2001 10:45 AM Page viii
viii Preface
appreciation are extended to the authors, whose commitment
to creating studies of high scholarly merit (while at the same
time putting up with my pestering, badgering, and occasional
alteration of their deathless prose) is most truly appreciated.
Columbia, SC
 July 
LSAA01 29/05/2001 10:45 AM Page ix
Contents
Preface vii
List of Contributors xi
Abbreviations xii
Introduction 
PART I. Law and the Manifestations of
New Authority
. Interpreting the Interpretationes of
the Breviarium 
John F. Matthews
. The Survival of Roman Family Law after the
Barbarian Settlements 
Antti Arjava
. The Legacy of Roman Law in Post-Roman
Britain 
Michael E. Jones
. Resolving Disputes: The Frontiers of Law in
Late Antiquity 
Jill D. Harries
. Evidence for the Audientia episcopalis in the
New Letters of Augustine 
Noel E. Lenski
. Judicial Violence and the Ecclesiastical Courts
in Late Antique North Africa 
Leslie Dossey
. The Development of Syriac Christian Canon
Law in the Sasanian Empire 
Victoria Erhart