Aims and Methods of Legal History: The Case of the Roman Dictatorship

Law and Method 2024, doi: 10.5553/REM/.000081

19 Pages Posted: 26 Oct 2023 Last revised: 24 Mar 2024

Date Written: February 1, 2024

Abstract

Doctrinal approaches to Roman law are currently often supplemented by contextual legal-historical scholarship that aims to expose Roman law’s connections with its socio-political, religious and broader intellectual environment. This article draws attention to the relevance of such contextual research for modern legal problems. An analysis of the Roman dictatorship and its reception history in legal and constitutional scholarship serves as a case in point. Contrary to common belief, the far-reaching powers of the Roman dictator – acting to save the Roman Republic in times of great peril – were controlled by informal rather than formal legal restraints. A corrected understanding of the Roman dictatorship is arguably not only important for an appropriate assessment of the Roman constitution itself, but also for current debates on the limits of legality in times of emergency.

Keywords: Dictatorship, state of emergency, Roman constitutional law, rule of law, legal methodology, legal philosophy

Suggested Citation

van den Berge, Lukas, Aims and Methods of Legal History: The Case of the Roman Dictatorship (February 1, 2024). Law and Method 2024, doi: 10.5553/REM/.000081, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4611421 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4611421

Lukas Van den Berge (Contact Author)

Utrecht University - Faculty of Law ( email )

Janskerkhof 3
Utrecht, 3512 BK
Netherlands

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
171
Abstract Views
803
Rank
360,326
PlumX Metrics