Abstract
<p>According to the rule being in force in Republican Rome, the slave testimony could not be used to the detriment of their owners, in particular in cases punishable by death (<em>in caput domini</em>), and the slaves could not bring charges against the owners. The few crimes in which exceptions were permitted was the crime of majesty. This article presents the most important views of Roman authors on the credibility of testimony given under torture and also explains the reasons for using torture in interrogating slaves. During the Principate period, the ban on interrogating slaves against their owners in <em>maiestas</em> cases was circumvented and then was abolished by imperial constitutions. During the Dominate period, the crime of lese-majesty was the only one in which a slave was allowed to accuse his master.</p>
Highlights
This study discusses the issue of testimony given by slaves during trials in cases of the crime of lese-majesty which was one of the most grave offences against the state in ancient Rome
Testimonies made by slaves were used, they were never referred to as testes,2 and most sources refer to their interrogation not as interrogatio as in the case of free men, but quaestio
Contributo allo studio della prova testimoniale nel processo romano, Padova 1989, p. 85) points out that in most legal sources, the term quaestio means an interrogation with the use of torture
Summary
Both literary and legal sources contain many statements demonstrating that their authors doubt the veracity of testimonies given under the influence of pain and fear These were the factors pointed out by Cicero. 85) points out that in most legal sources, the term quaestio means an interrogation with the use of torture (which is manifested by the additional expression per tormenta used in some cases). This term is used in a broader meaning, as interrogation in general, in the definition presented by Ulpian in D. Slaves and the Criminal Law, “ZSS” 1981, vol 98(1), p. 227
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