Sulle tracce dei rescripta richiesti da privati nella tarda antichità

Abstract

Uncertainties regarding the fate and role of rescripts addressed by emperors in response to petitions of individuals in Late Antiquity depend primarily on the lack of a complete and updated inventory. Firstly, a content-based typology is presented, which highlights the persistence of rescripts intended to solve interpretative questions of private and criminal law. Then, an overview of the main sources – literary, epigraphic, papyrological – and of the already extant (partial) lists and inventories of rescripts (or of petitions) is outlined. This survey shows that, from Constantine to Justinian, a large amount of “private” rescripts continued to be issued.