Work

Rabbinic Evidence for the Spread of Roman Legal Education in the Provinces

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: A long tradition of comparative scholarship has succeeded to establish the impact of Roman legal environment on rabbinic law making during the first two centuries CE, particularly in the field of family and status. Yet, the specific channels for acquiring this knowledge have hitherto remained a matter of conjecture. This paper argues that the rabbis were exposed to the contents of the current legal handbooks. Tractate Qiddushin (on betrothal) of the Mishnah includes two peculiar units: the first (1.1–5) regarding forms of acquisition and the second (3.12) on the status of newborns. Both units appear in key points in the tractate and exhibit striking structural and conceptual similarities to extended portions of the Roman school tradition regarding the laws of status, as handed down in Gaius’ Institutes and Pseudo-Ulpian's liber singularis regularum. It is therefore suggested that these units provide the earliest literary attestation already around the turn of the third century CE for the dissemination of Roman legal education among non-Roman provincials in the East, who sought to adjust their local practices into Roman-like legal structures.

Source: Law and History Review

DOI: 10.1017/s0738248024000312

Author: Yair Furstenberg

Institution: Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Language: English

Topic: Classical Antiquity Studies

Subfield: Anthropology

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Peace, justice, and strong institutions, Quality education

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,450