{"title":"Private legal practice and public authority in early Venetian Ithaca: thirteen new notarial documents (1575–1599)","authors":"K. Nikias","doi":"10.1163/15718190-20241205","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15718190-20241205","url":null,"abstract":"<h2>Summary</h2><p>The Greek notarial documents produced in the centuries after the fall of Byzantine rule are important sources for retracing the development of private legal practices under the influence of the different administrative and legal orders which came to rule the Greek-speaking territories. In the vast areas which came under Venetian control, the system of private transactions was conditioned by a tension between the widespread practice of notaries operating as private professionals during the Byzantine period, and the intervention of Venetian administrators who sought to regulate notaries as public officers. This article considers this tension in an understudied peripheral context, the small island of Ithaca in the period of early Venetian rule, through an analysis of thirteen new Greek notarial sources from 1575–1599 which are presented here in a critical edition. Owing to the small size of the Ithacan economy and the informality of the island’s administration during the sixteenth century, private transactions were executed mainly by independent scribes, priests, and in some cases by public notaries from neighbouring Cephalonia. This was gradually changed by successive regulatory interventions by the Venetians which formalised administrative structures on Ithaca, traced here through several unpublished sources from the local archives, in addition to documents from Cephalonia and Venice. These reforms led to the establishment of a system of publicly appointed and supervised notaries on Ithaca in the early seventeenth century, putting the freer practice of the earlier period under the closer control of the public administration and bringing Ithaca into line with practices in the larger Venetian possessions.</p>","PeriodicalId":501512,"journal":{"name":"The Legal History Review","volume":"12 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142191215","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Bonfante, Vacca, Ankum: acquisition of ownership of res mancipi abandoned by their owner, Pomp. D. 41,7,5pr.","authors":"Jeroen M.J. Chorus","doi":"10.1163/15718190-20241212","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15718190-20241212","url":null,"abstract":"<h2>Summary</h2><p>Pomponius, Digest 41,7,5<em>pr</em>., presents many difficulties. It holds, <em>inter alia</em>, that if the possessor of a thing abandoned by its owner, did not have that thing <em>in bonis</em>, the person who bought it from him, knowing that it had been abandoned, will usucapt it. But this seems to conflict with § 1, asserting that the acquirer of an abandoned thing becomes its <em>dominus</em> at once, without <em>usucapio</em>. Bonfante saw that the <em>principium</em> concerns only <em>res mancipi</em> and § 1 only <em>res nec mancipi</em>. Vacca did not agree, but subscribed to part of Bonfante’s interpretation. Both Bonfante and Vacca, however, introduced an element not mentioned by Pomponius: that the selling possessor ignored that the thing had been abandoned by its owner and, instead, thought the thing was <em>res aliena</em>. Ankum rejected that introduction and gave an interpretation (and reconstruction) of the fragment without the contested element. It is argued that Ankum’s interpretation should prevail.</p>","PeriodicalId":501512,"journal":{"name":"The Legal History Review","volume":"58 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142191232","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The issue of sexuality in Italian penitentiary law: a 1930s debate between international influences and fascist prison policies","authors":"Gianmarco Palmieri","doi":"10.1163/15718190-20241211","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15718190-20241211","url":null,"abstract":"<h2>Summary</h2><p>This article delves into a crucial yet understudied aspect of Italian penitentiary history during the 1930s: the intricate interplay between international influences and the development of fascist prison policies with regard to issues of sexuality. Drawing from a rich archive of legislative documents, contemporary publications, and historical accounts, this study examines the emergence of a multifaceted discourse surrounding sexuality within the context of Italian prisons. Within this framework, the article illuminates the tensions between Mussolini’s authoritarian policies and the pioneering penitentiary practices that were undergoing experimentation in foreign legal systems<sup>1</sup>.</p>","PeriodicalId":501512,"journal":{"name":"The Legal History Review","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142191218","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"‘Scriptura recepta et usitata’: The impact of the Lex citandi on Justinian’s Digest","authors":"W.J. Zwalve","doi":"10.1163/15718190-20241213","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15718190-20241213","url":null,"abstract":"<h2>Summary</h2><p>It is generally taken for granted that the 426 Law of Citations (<em>Lex citandi</em>) of the emperor Valentinian III had no impact on the composition of Justinian’s <em>Digest</em> and that it had already been repealed on 15 December 530 with the promulgation of Const. <em>Deo auctore</em>, announcing the composition of the <em>Digest</em>. In this article it is contended that the <em>Lex citandi</em> was only repealed on 16 December 533, with the promulgation of the <em>Digest</em> on which it had a considerable impact since it was referred to in Const. <em>Deo auctore</em> and was the main inspiration of the <em>Index florentinus</em>, which is to be regarded as an expanded version of the <em>Lex citandi</em>.</p>","PeriodicalId":501512,"journal":{"name":"The Legal History Review","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142191216","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Is legal history just writing a text?","authors":"Boudewijn Sirks","doi":"10.1163/15718190-20241204","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15718190-20241204","url":null,"abstract":"<h2>Summary</h2><p>The question, what constitutes the methodology of the legal history research, is answered in different ways. One is that it is the same as for general history: writing on history according to a set of rules which constitute its methodology, because in the end all research on history is just creating a text. It follows from this that legal history is a variation of history and belongs to history faculties, since there is no connection with legal methodology. It is maintained in this article that this view is based on too simple a view of history as science: there is not one methodology but various methodologies (‘discourses’, not only in history but in science in general), each with its own conditions and requirements. Legal history’s discourse has a particular distinguishing element, viz. legal analysis and methodology, which sets it apart from history in general. Its natural place is consequently in law faculties.</p>","PeriodicalId":501512,"journal":{"name":"The Legal History Review","volume":"40 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142191219","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Donationem non facit? Donations to people in potestate of the donor in Roman law","authors":"Daniele Curir","doi":"10.1163/15718190-20241202","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15718190-20241202","url":null,"abstract":"<h2>Summary</h2><p>The paper focuses on the phenomenon of donation to people <em>in potestate</em> of the donor. Even though this kind of donation was an old practice in Roman society, classical jurisprudence considered it void due to the lack of legal capacity of the people <em>alieni iuris</em>. However, we can see that beginning from the Severian age, the jurists and then the imperial chancery gradually stated the validity of these acts of liberality, contingent upon certain conditions primarily based on the donor’s <em>voluntas</em>. The analysis of <em>responsa</em> and <em>rescripta</em> related to this subject highlights how this <em>concessio</em> worked under a juridical point of view, along with its progression. Finally, it is highlighted how this <em>interpretatio</em> was part of a broader phenomenon occurring in the 3rd century <span style=\"font-variant: small-caps;\">a.d.</span> and aimed to value the donor’s <em>voluntas</em>.</p>","PeriodicalId":501512,"journal":{"name":"The Legal History Review","volume":"43 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142191214","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Testamentary law in late Medieval Dubrovnik: A case study of the testament of notary Thomasinus de Savere (1284)","authors":"Henrik-Riko Held","doi":"10.1163/15718190-20233411","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15718190-20233411","url":null,"abstract":"<h2>Summary</h2><p>This paper explores testamentary law in late medieval Dubrovnik (Ragusa) by analysing the testaments made by notary Thomasinus de Savere, working at Dubrovnik, 1277–1286. De Savere was an educated notary, originating from Reggio Emilia in Italy. He greatly contributed to the spread of doctrinal elements of <em>ius commune</em> in Dubrovnik. In determining the reach of his influence on testamentary law, I will first examine inheritance law in Dubrovnik at the time, followed by an analysis of the testaments De Savere composed for the local population. I will then compare these testaments with the testament De Savere made for himself (1284). The latter differs from the testaments composed for the locals, as it is doctrinally in line with the latest developments of the <em>ius commune.</em> I will discuss the possible reasons and relevance of this difference.</p>","PeriodicalId":501512,"journal":{"name":"The Legal History Review","volume":"205 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139051113","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Testamentary practices and village courts in the Bailiwick of ’s-Hertogenbosch (c. 1470-1550)","authors":"Mark Vermeer","doi":"10.1163/15718190-20233409","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15718190-20233409","url":null,"abstract":"<h2>Summary</h2><p>This paper discusses the origin, function and uses of <em>schepentestamenten</em>, acts of last will registered before municipal courts of aldermen. From the second half of the fifteenth century, peasants and townsmen found recourse to these courts for the registration of acts of last will. At first these acts were primarily contracts among spouses mutually conveying to each other the property upon death, but especially after the secularisation of the notarial profession in 1531 the number of pious bequests and religious beneficiaries greatly increased. In general, three strategies prevail in the employment of the last will: overruling the customary dispensation to the surviving spouse and providing this person with additional resources, specifying the position of each of the children (especially when some were illegitimate or had received by life), and preventing loss of wealth from the family. For the legal instruments, the aldermen resorted to their standard formulary, although attuned to the peculiarities of the last will. The trust and authority the courts of aldermen enjoyed, in combination with their executive clout in enforcing compliance, allowed them to discard various formal elements required in notarial instruments, while also making them popular institutions for the registration of last wills.</p>","PeriodicalId":501512,"journal":{"name":"The Legal History Review","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139051283","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Zur Entmündigung wegen Wahnsinn und Verschwendung im römischen Recht","authors":"Christine Lehne-Gstreinthaler","doi":"10.1163/15718190-20233405","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15718190-20233405","url":null,"abstract":"<h2>Summary</h2><p>This article is devoted to the incapacitation procedure for insane and profligate persons in Roman law. On the basis of literary and legal sources, an attempt is made to explain the incapacitation procedure in more detail. Special attention is given to the concept of interdiction and the question of involvement of physicians in such proceedings.</p>","PeriodicalId":501512,"journal":{"name":"The Legal History Review","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139051124","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Origen de la teoría sobre la Paráfrasis del Pseudo-Teófilo","authors":"Fernando Reinoso-Barbero","doi":"10.1163/15718190-20233404","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15718190-20233404","url":null,"abstract":"<h2>Summary</h2><p><em>Origin of the theory about the Pseudo-Theophilus’ Paraphrase</em>. – The sudden and abrupt change in Contardo Ferrini’s stance towards Theophilus, is attributed here to the misinterpretation of a letter sent to him by Zachariä von Lingenthal on January 31, 1884, just as his magnificent edition of the Paraphrase was on the brink of publication. This circumstance compels him to hastily modify and adapt its <em>Prolegomena</em> to his new theory, leading to significant unforeseen consequences. Furthermore, due to the rush, he also overlooks making modifications in other sections of his edition where, for this reason, Theophilus is still acknowledged as the author of the Paraphrase.</p>","PeriodicalId":501512,"journal":{"name":"The Legal History Review","volume":"56 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139051203","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}