Dr. Mirkovi, professor of Ancient History at Belgrade University analyzes the colonate of the Later Roman Empire as a historical phenomenon. The status of coloni (tenant farmers who were legally free) represents as much a legal as a sociological problem; although they were free, coloni were tied to another's land-often for a large portion of their lives. Rejecting the most widely accepted theory today that imperial fiscal policy that began with the emperor Diocletian in the 290s created the bound colonate & limited the right of the coloni to leave the land they cultivated, the author traces the development of this institution to the economic condition of the Early Empire. Using the legal, literary & papyrological evidence, she stresses two facts as significant in limiting the freedom of coloni: a) the relation of the colonus to the landlord, b) the fiscal obligations he endures. Mirkovi_ cites extensively the law of Constantine, C.Th. V 17,1 as the crucial text in discussions of the dependent colonate. She emphasizes continuity in the development of the colonate & that the general principle of binding to the soil can be applied to the agricultural population at large.

A new and ground-breaking history of the Roman colonate in its legal and socio-economic contexts.

This book is the first comprehensive treatment of the 'small politics' of rural communities in the Late Roman world. It places the diverse fates of those communities within a generalized model for exploring rural social systems. Fundamentally, social interactions in rural contexts in the period revolved around the desire of individual households to insure themselves against catastrophic subsistence failure and the need of the communities in which they lived to manage the attendant social tensions, inequalities and conflicts. A focus upon the politics of reputation in those communities provides a striking contrast to the picture painted by the legislation and the writings of Rome's literate elite: when viewed from the point of view of the peasantry, issues such as the Christianization of the countryside, the emergence of new types of patronage relations, and the effects of the new system of taxation upon rural social structures take on a different aspect.

This book explores the evolution of Roman law and society in Italy from 493, with the proclamation of the Ostrogoth Theoderic the Great as king, until about 554, when the eastern Emperor Justinian was able to re-establish imperial authority in the region. Drawing upon evidence from a variety of legal and historical sources, it investigates how Theoderic and his successors attempted to govern the peninsula in the wake of foreign invasions, the collapse of civic administration, the break-up of the Mediterranean economy, and the emergence of new forms of religious and secular authority. It challenges long-held assumptions as to just how peaceful, prosperous and Roman-like Theoderic's Italy really was. Its primary focus is the Edictum Theoderici, a significant but largely overlooked document that offers valuable historical insights into the complex and sometimes contested social, political and religious changes that marked Italy's passage from Antiquity into the Middle Ages.

The Roman economy was operated significantly above subsistence level, with production being stimulated by both taxation and trade. Some regions became wealthy on the basis of exporting low-value agricultural products across the Mediterranean. In contrast, it has usually been assumed that the high costs of land transport kept inland regions relatively poor. This volume challenges these assumptions by presenting new research on production and exchange within inland regions. The papers, supported by detailed bibliographic essays, range from Britain to Jordan. They reveal robust agricultural economies in many interior regions. Here, some wealth did come from high value products, which could defy transport costs. However, ceramics also indicate local exchange systems, capable of generating wealth without being integrated into inter-regional trading networks. The role of the State in generating production and exchange is visible, but often co-existed with local market systems. Contributors are Alyssa A. Bandow, Fanny Bessard, Michel Bonifay, Kim Bowes, Stefano Costa, Jeremy Evans, Elizabeth Fentress, Piroska Hárshegyi, Adam Izdebski, Luke Lavan, Tamara Lewit, Phil Mills, Katalin Ottományi, Peter Sarris, Emanuele Vaccaro, Agnès Vokaer, Mark Whittow and Andrea Zerbini.

This book is a fundamental reassessment of one of the most important commercial contracts in Roman law. By drawing on legal and non-legal source material, this book seeks to assess the development of the contract in light of Roman legal thought.

This unique collection makes available, for the first time, translations of medieval Italian jurisprudence, including commentaries, tracts, and legal opinions by leading jurists.