The Latin Language and Roman Law

This volume is a pilot study that aims to explore the language used in various domains of Roman law prior to the publication of the Digest, the language of which has been described by Kalb (1888). It is the outcome of an international and interdisciplinary workshop held at the University Toulouse Jean Jaurès (21–22 September 2023). It aims at exploring the language of legal texts and the passages that reproduce or refer to it. Special attention is paid to the identification of legal elements and to the context of their use. This volume explores various sources that have not been brought together until now: (i) epigraphically attested material, comprising official documents such as Roman statutes from the Republican period, and private legal documents such as contracts on wax tablets or papyri, curse tablets, especially the so-called ‘prayers for justice’; (ii) literary texts in which legal elements are used (Quintilian, among others). It has two objectives: on the one hand it concentrates on various lexical, morphological, and syntactic features of Latin legal texts; on the other hand, it discusses the interaction between Roman legal practice and linguistic expressions.