„Urbanes” Mietrecht? Der römische Wohnungsmarkt zwischen Preismechanismus und Intervention

Abstract

Abstract 'Urban' tenancy law? The Roman rental market between price mechanism and intervention. Renting a flat in Roman times did not come cheap. The Roman jurists left the determination of the merces up to the parties to the locatio conductio and permitted them to circumvent each other in the course of the contract negotiations (se invicem circumscribere) – a rule that at first glance seems to privilege the landlord. In this paper, it is suggested that the system of sub-rent of insulae and the standardized Roman rental year, starting each year at the calends of July, contributed to a reduction in asymmetry of bargaining power between landlord and tenant. Only in exceptional cases there were external interventions in the price mechanism: In the perils of the civil war, Julius Caesar and Octavian issued laws remitting the annual rent below 500 sesterces for the inhabitants of Italy and below 2,000 sesterces for those of the city of Rome. In conclusion, these structures and rules show that in this regard, Roman tenancy law was specifically designed with a view to the inhabitants of the city of Rome and thus can be qualified as 'urban' law.