D. 50,9,6 (Scaev. 1 dig): Auslegung eines statthalterisch veranlassten Stadtgesetzes?

Abstract

Abstract D. 50,9,6 (Scaev. 1 dig): Interpretation of a Municipal Statute Induced by a Governor? The responsum D. 50,9,6 (Scaev. 1 dig) of Q. Cervidius Scaevola contains a municipal law in Greek, punishing anyone requiring justice by avoiding the ordinary legal proceedings before the synhedrion. The inquirer asks if he committed a punishable offence since he acted in ignorance against a decretum. Scaevola replies that only offenders acting intentionally will undergo punishment. Although repudiating his suspicions of interpolations, this paper supports the hypothesis of Staffhorst, who considers the statute not emanating from a municipium, but from a Greek Polis. Furthermore, the analysis confirms that the decretum contains an interdiction to take action within another court than the synhedrion. The ignorantia concerns neither the statute, nor the decision, but the unlawfulness of the behaviour itself (adversus decretum facere) and is a conventional criterion of the Roman jurists in order to exclude bad faith or fault. Finally, the statute could be regarded as a rule originating from the authority of a Roman governor concerning provincial procedural law and its promulgation might have been induced by the governor himself in order to reduce the number of provincial inquiries towards Roman officials. Inhalt: I. Einleitung; II. Zur Datierung der Responsen Scaevolas; III. Interpolationsvermutungen; IV. Zu ignorans adversus decretum facere und zur Auslegung der Strafnorm; V. Ergebnisse