Audientia episcopalis w praktyce prawnej późnej starożytności – w poszukiwaniu źródeł regulacji sądów biskupich za panowania Justyniana
Audientia episcopalis in the legal practice of Late Antiquity – in the search for the origins of Justinian's legislation regarding the bishops' courts

Summary/Abstract: The problem of audientia episcopalis in Roman law has been the subject of extensive research in the past. The focal point of previous studies has usually been the legal doctrine, as well as the picture of bishop courts in the light of the literary sources. In contrast to that, the question of how audientia episcopalis functioned in legal practice as shown by papyri has caused scholars much difficulty, because of both the limited material available, and the obscure nature of the institution. One could therefore ask: how is it possible that such a widespread practice of dispute resolution by the bishops – as shown by literary sources – is so elusive in the papyri? In this article I tackle the problem of this absence of evidence. By confronting the imperial law with the legal practice as depicted by the papyri I strive to establish the origin of Justinian’s reforms regarding audientia episcopalis as well as alternative methods of dispute resolution. Through several case studies depicting the engagement of clerics in dispute resolution, I analyse the differences between arbitration and audientia episcopalis. I attempt to answer the question of how widespread audientia episcopalis was, and whether it was homogeneous or, rather, heterogeneous in nature.

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