Ius gladii

The ius gladii (German for sword law) referred to the legal power of attorney to pronounce the death penalty outside Rome and to have it carried out within the framework of capital jurisdiction.

republic

In addition to the judicial authority, this power of attorney was part of the executive power of a proconsul , which was granted to him by the sovereign ( SPQR ) during the times of the republic as governor and thus as representative of Rome in the province to be administered by him .

Principate

The sword law continued to exist in the principate since Augustus . However, it was explicitly awarded by the emperor , as the supreme court lord and sovereign , to a knightly governor in an imperial province . The governor ( Praefectus Aegypti ) appointed in the special Egyptian province exercised the ius gladii in general, on the basis of a legal basis for authorization. The senatorial governor was still entitled to the sword right as in the republic, so that no additional, imperial confirmation would have been required. Subordinate authorities, to which the ius gladii had not been awarded, had to refer corresponding legal cases to the higher authority, possibly up to Rome before the emperor, for a decision.

For organizational reasons, Diocletian gave every governor regardless of his class jurisdiction over capital.

Barriers

While the capital jurisdiction was not subject to any restrictions against the provincials without Roman citizenship , the Roman citizen basically had the appellation available, which could make a final decision of the emperor necessary. A transfer to the emperor was common for members of the upper class of a province with Roman citizenship and especially for members of the military who held at least the rank of a centurion . Only in times of crisis, the successful management of which would have prevented any delay, could this maxim be deviated from.

literature

Gerold Walser: The Severers in Research 1960–1972 . In: Hildegard Temporini, Wolfgang Haase (Hrsg.): Rise and decline of the Roman world . Part II, Volume 2: Political History, Imperial History . Berlin, de Gruyter 1975, pp. 614-656 (especially p. 633).

Web links

Detlef Liebs : The ius gladii of the Roman provincial governors in the imperial era . , Reprints from the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, original article published in: Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 43 (1981), pp. 217–223.
Christoph Riedo-Emmenegger: Prophetic-messianic provocateurs of the Pax Romana: excursions . (PDF; 1.6 MB) In: Theological Faculty Freiburg, Switzerland. (2003)

Individual evidence

↑ Gerold Walser: The Severer in research 1960–1972 . In: Hildegard Temporini, Wolfgang Haase (Hrsg.): Rise and decline of the Roman world . Part II, Volume 2: Political History, Imperial History . Berlin, de Gruyter 1975, ISBN 3110049716 , p. 633.
↑ cf. also Christoph Riedo-Emmenegger: Prophetic-messianic provocateurs of the Pax Romana: excursions . THE RULES OF THE ROMAN ESTABLISHMENTS AND THE LEGIONS ESTABLISHED IN JUDEA , G.1 Prefects and Procurators of the Province of Judea and the ius gladii , pp. 136, 137
↑ Detlef Liebs : The ius gladii of the Roman provincial governors in the imperial era , special prints from the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, pp. 6-8.

[1] Gerold Walser: The Severer in research 1960–1972 . In: Hildegard Temporini, Wolfgang Haase (Hrsg.): Rise and decline of the Roman world . Part II, Volume 2: Political History, Imperial History . Berlin, de Gruyter 1975, ISBN 3110049716 , p. 633.

[2] . also Christoph Riedo-Emmenegger: Prophetic-messianic provocateurs of the Pax Romana: excursions . THE RULES OF THE ROMAN ESTABLISHMENTS AND THE LEGIONS ESTABLISHED IN JUDEA , G.1 Prefects and Procurators of the Province of Judea and the ius gladii , pp. 136, 137

[3] Detlef Liebs : The ius gladii of the Roman provincial governors in the imperial era , special prints from the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, pp. 6-8.