Learning objectives
At the end of the course the student is expected to know and remember the features of Roman public law; to be able to independently apply the acquired knowledge to cases, also by comparing the notions of Roman law with the existing Italian criminal law.
Prerequisites
In order to sit the Roman law history exam, it is necessary to have
passed the exam of Roman law institutions.
Course unit content
The course proposes to trace the line of Roman penal law development
from ancient times to the era of domination, as much in its “substantial
aspects” as in the forms of study of the process, in order to highlight the
close connection existing in the Roman experience among the cases in
point of crime and the juridical forms of the application of penalties. That
together with the objective of understanding the peculiarities and the
progressive formation of the relative study, highlighting the originality
and the degree of awareness achieved in the process of elaborating the
outlines and problems subject to successive attention on the part of
penal science. In particular, attention will be placed on understanding
those aspects, relative to the multiple connections between the political and constitutional
structure of society and criminal repression in all its
implications, specifically those purely technical-juridical, which still today
offer a starting point for worthwhile reflection.
For systematic reasons, the course will take place in two parts: one
general, relative to the basically substantial penal law institutions and the
penal procedure, and a special part dedicated to the study of a single
criminal person and in particular of a few sexual crimes taken into
consideration in light of the input supplied by legal reflections and
imperial regulations.
Full programme
The present course, devoted to the study of Roman legal history, will
trace the line of Roman penal law development from ancient times to the
age of the Late Roman Empire. We will consider the substantial aspects
of criminal law as well as the forms of the process. In this way we will
highlight the close connection existing in the Roman experience among
the cases in point of crime and the juridical forms of the application of
penalties. That together with the objective of understanding the
peculiarities and the progressive formation of the relative study,
highlighting the originality and the degree of awareness achieved in the
process of elaborating the outlines and problems subject to successive
attention on the part of penal science. In particular, attention will be placed on understanding those aspects, relative to the multiple
connections between the political-constitutional structure of society and
criminal repression in all its implications, specifically those purely
technical-juridical, which still today offer a starting point for worthwhile
reflection. For systematic reasons, the course will take place in two
parts: one general, relative to the basically substantial penal law
institutions and the penal procedure, and a special part dedicated to the
study of a single criminal person and in particular of a few sexual crimes
taken into consideration in light of the input supplied by legal reflections
and imperial regulations. The study of legal history will ensure the
students the awareness of the nature of the institutes, of their being
rooted in ancient past still alive and rich of suggestion to regulate
present issues.
Bibliography
General section:
B. SANTALUCIA, Diritto e processo penale nell’antica Roma, Giuffrè,
Milan, 1998 (except §§ 3. 4, 5, 7, 8 of ch. V).
Monographic section:
Lecture notes on a selection of crimes (forthcoming).
Teaching methods
The course takes the form of seminars in which a variety of historical
Roman legal documents will be discussed in depth.
Assessment methods and criteria
The final evaluation will consist of an oral exam that will include at least three questions (with individual scores from 0 to 10 for each question, with increasing value). The final positive vote will be expressed in a scale from 18 to 30.
The student will have to demonstrate a good knowledge of the notions outlined in the manual, enhancing the historical dimension of the legal phenomenon.
Other information
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2030 agenda goals for sustainable development
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