Causa Curiana as an example of the influence of rhetoric on the interpretation of wills in Roman law

Abstract

The article aims to analyze a hereditary dispute happened in the late Roman Republic and known as causa Curiana. The argumentation of parties ranked for a long time as starting point of the discussion about rhetorical influence on interpretation of Roman lawyers. The author pursues to estimate an influence degree of ancient rhetoric on interpretation in Roman jurisprudence. For that purpose the reconstruction of trial position of both parties is undertaken and compared with rhetorical treatises. Then the main features of interpretation of agreements and testaments are shaped. After that the difference between revealed features and rhetorical approaches of interpretation is underlined. Finally, the appearing of those features in causa Curiana is explained and its significance for Roman jurisprudence is illustrated. The analyze of approaches to Roman law interpretation has shown that legal interpretation of Roman jurists was relied on the same instruments applied by ancient rhetor. Meanwhile Roman lawyers treated such instruments as normative element divided from rhetors who were apt to use them more deliberately according to their tasks. The manner of speech of the parties’ representaties was based on rhetorical terminology in the legal trial. At the same moment the perceiving of testament sense was realized through legal argumentation. This fact does not allow to argue for bride rhetorical influence on Roman law.