Protected by Lex Laetoria: Two Papyri of Roman Egypt and their Effect on Roman Law
Protected by Lex Laetoria: Two Papyri of Roman Egypt and their Effect on Roman Law

Summary/Abstract: Lex Laetoria was a Roman Act from about the turn of the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, granting additional protection to adults under the age of 25. Amongst its primary sources the Tabula Heracleensis, a.k.a. lex Iulia municipalis (cf. FIRA I, 112), an excerpt from the Theodosian Code (C. Th. 8, 12, 2), and four papyri (BGU II 378, BGU II 611, P. Oxy. X 1274 and P. Oxy. XVII 2111) bear greater importance. These papyri are resourceful in the debate about the actual name of the Act (lex Laetoria versus lex Plaetoria). From a legal point of view, BGU II 378 and P. Oxy. X 1274 contain a petition and a contract or agreement, respectively, where the reference to lex Laetoria is part of a legal argumentation. Besides the actual case, these papyri are significant because they give a presentation of the quotidian social and economic life and practice of the Roman world in Egypt around the 2nd century AD. By examining and analysing the cases described in these papyri, we get a closer view to the everyday reality of Roman law. The characters involved in the cases bear Roman names, the cases take place in Hellenised Egypt, the correspondence is in Greek, yet Roman law measures are used to settle the disputes. We sense multiculturalism in these documents, without the awkward feeling of being unfamiliar to Roman Egyptian culture. This paper aims to catch a glimpse of Roman law in action by multicultural approach, and to provide an example of how Rome had managed to handle herself as an Empire.

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