Table Of ContentEncounters in Law and Philosophy
Yan
THOMAS
LEGAL ARTIFICES:
TEN ESSAYS ON
ROMAN LAW
IN THE PRESENT
TENSE
Legal Artifices: Ten Essays on Roman Law
in the Present Tense
ENCOUNTERS IN LAW AND PHILOSOPHY
SERIES EDITORS: Thanos Zartaloudis and Anton Schütz
This series interrogates, historically and theoretically, the encounters
between philosophy and law. Each volume published takes a unique
approach and challenges traditional systemic approaches to law and
philosophy. The series is designed to expand the environment for law and
thought.
Titles available in the series
STASIS: Civil War as a Political Paradigm
Giorgio Agamben
On the Idea of Potency: Juridical and Theological Roots of the Western Cultural
Tradition
Emanuele Castrucci
Political Theology: Demystifying the Universal
Anton Schütz and Marinos Diamantides
The Birth of Nomos
Thanos Zartaloudis
Leibniz: A Contribution to the Archaeology of Power
Stephen Connelly
General Advisor
Giorgio Agamben
Advisory Board
Clemens Pornschlegel, Institut für Germanistik, Universität München,
Germany
Emmanuele Coccia, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, France
Jessica Whyte, University of Western Sydney, School of Humanities and
Communication Arts, Australia
Peter Goodrich, Cardozo Law School, Yeshiva University, New York, USA
Alain Pottage, Kent Law School, University of Kent, UK and Sciences Po,
Paris
Justin Clemens, University of Melbourne, Faculty of Arts, Australia
Robert Young, NYU, English, USA
Nathan Moore, Birkbeck College, Law School, University of London, UK
Alexander Murray, Queen’s University Belfast, UK
Piyel Haldar, Birkbeck College, Law School, University of London, UK
Anne Bottomley, Law School, University of Kent, UK
Oren Ben-Dor, Law School, University of Southampton, UK
edinburghuniversitypress.com/series/enlp
Legal Artifices:
Ten Essays on
Roman Law in the
Present Tense
Yan Thomas
Translated by:
Chantal Schütz & Anton Schütz
Edited by:
Thanos Zartaloudis, with Cooper Francis
Foreword:
Anton Schütz & Thanos Zartaloudis
Afterword:
Alain Pottage
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© Yan Thomas
© Editorial matter and organisation, Thanos Zartaloudis with Cooper
Francis, 2021
© English translation, Chantal Schütz & Anton Schütz, 2021
© Foreword, Anton Schütz & Thanos Zartaloudis, 2021
© Afterword, Alain Pottage, 2021
Cover image: www.shutterstock.com
Cover design: www.hayesdesign.co.uk
Edinburgh University Press Ltd
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Typeset in 11/13 Palatino by
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and printed and bound in Great Britain
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 4744 4667 9 (hardback)
ISBN 978 1 4744 4669 3 (webready PDF)
ISBN 978 1 4744 4670 9 (epub)
The right of Yan Thomas to be identified as the author of this work has
been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988, and the Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003 (SI
No 2498).
The right of Thanos Zartaloudis with Cooper Francis to be identified
as the editor of this work has been asserted in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, and the Copyright and
Related Rights Regulations 2003 (SI No 2498).
Contents
Copyright Acknowledgements vi
List of Abbreviations viii
Foreword – Operations and Artifices: The Art of the
Oldest Legal Professionals ix
Anton Schütz and Thanos Zartaloudis
1. The Contrivances of Legal Institutions: Studies in
Roman Law 1
2. Legal History for Historians: A Presentation 7
3. The Language of Roman Law: Problems and
Methods 13
4. The Law between Words and Things: Rhetoric and
Case Law in Rome 48
5. Artifices of Truth in the Medieval ius commune 79
6. The Subject of Right, the Person, Nature: Remarks
on the Current Criticism of the Legal Subject 107
7. Vitae Necisque Potestas: The Father, the State, Death 144
8. On Parricide: Political Interdiction and the
Institution of the Subject 210
9. Act, Agent, Society: Fault and Guilt in Roman
Legal Thinking 242
10. The Slave’s Body and its Work in Rome: On
Analysing a Juridical Dissociation 274
Afterword – A Knowledge Apart 299
Alain Pottage
Biographies of Contributors 317
Copyright Acknowledgements
Chapter 1. ‘The Contrivances of Legal Institutions: Studies
in Roman Law’ was originally published as the ‘Preface’ to:
Los artificios de las instituciones. Estudios de derecho romano,
University of Buenos Aires, 1999.
Chapter 2. ‘Legal History for Historians: A Presentation’ was
originally published in Annales, Histoire, Sciences Sociales,
57ème année, 6, 2002. This chapter is an introduction to a
multi-author edited collection. We have omitted all passages
in which Thomas, writing as the editor, refers to or summa-
rises the chapters of this volume.
Chapter 3. ‘The Language of Roman Law: Problems and
Methods’ was originally published in Archives d’histoire du
droit (1974), pp. 103–25.
Chapter 4. ‘The Law between Words and Things: Rhetoric
and Case Law in Rome’ was originally published in Archives
de Philosophie du Droit, 23, 1978.
Chapter 5. ‘Artifices of Truth in the Medieval ius commune’
was originally published in L’Homme 2005, 175–6, pp. 113–30.
Chapter 6. ‘The Subject of Right, the Person, Nature: Remarks
on the Current Criticism of the Legal Subject’ was originally
published in Le Débat, n. 100, 1998.
Chapter 7. ‘Vitae Necisque Potestas: The Father, the State,
Death’ was originally published as: ‘Vitae necisque potestas.
Le père, la cité, la mort’, in Yan Thomas (ed.) Du châtiment
dans la cité (round table, 9–11 Nov. 1982), Rome–Paris 1985,
pp. 499–548.
vi
Copyright Acknowledgements
Chapter 8. ‘On Parricide: Political Interdiction and the
Institution of the Subject’ was originally published as: ‘À
propos du parricide. L’interdit politique et l’institution du
sujet’ in L’inactuel, 3 (Spring 1995; titre du numéro: Intérêts
de la psychanalyse).
Chapter 9. ‘Act, Agent, Society: Fault and Guilt in Roman
Legal Thinking’ was originally published as: ‘Acte, agent,
société. Sur l’homme coupable dans la pensée juridique
romaine’, Archives de Philosophie du Droit, 22–1, 1977.
Chapter 10. ‘The Slave’s Body and its Work in Rome: On
Analysing a Juridical Dissociation’ was originally published
as: ‘Le corps de l’esclave et son travail à Rome’, in: Ph. Moreau
(ed.), Corps romains, Paris, 2002.
vii
Abbreviations
— C.J., for Justinian’s Codex, his compilation of imperial
laws (534).
— D., for Justinian’s Digest, a didactic treatise of Roman law
(533).
— I., for Justinian’s Institutes, a didactic treatise of Roman
law (533).
— X, for the Decretals of Gregory IX (also known as Liber
Extra) a compilation of papal decretals (1234).
— VI, for the Liber Sextus, a compilation of papal decretals
going back to Bonifacius VIII (1298).
— Extrav., for the Extravagantes, a collection compiled by
Jean XXII (1317).
— on, in, or gl., for glosses and comments of medieval jurists
on a passage of Roman or canon law.
— c. for canon.
— pr. for proemium, the introductive paragraph of a juridical
text.
— s.v. for sub verbo (in reference to words, which mark a
comment or a gloss).
— eod. loc. (refers to a passage quoted shortly beforehand).
viii
