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PERSONALITY IN ROMAN PRIVATE LAW PERSONALITY IN ROMAN PRIVATE LAW by P. W. DUFF Of Lincoln's Inn, Barrister-at-law; Fellow of Trinity College Cambridge AUGUSTUS M. KELLEY * PUBLISHERS New York, New York ROTHMAN REPRINTS, INC. South Hackensack, New Jersey 197' First Published 1938 (London: Cambridge University Press) Reprinted 1971 By AUGUSTUS M. KELLEY * PUBLISHERS 1140 BROADWAY NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10001 ROTHMAN REPRINTS, INC. 57 LEUNING STREET SOUTH HACKENSACK, NEW JERSEY 07606 By Arrangement with CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS ISBN o 678 04544 5 Library of Congress Catalogue Code Number 70- 138536 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ly SENTRY PRESS, NEW YORK, N. Y. 10019 To L. E. D. CONTENTS PREFACE PAGE iX CHAPTER I. Persona, Caput, Corpus, Universitas I IV. Populus and Fiscus 51 Towns 62 IV. Collegia: the lus Coeundi 95 V. Collegia and Corporate Capacity 129 VI. Societates Publicanorum '59 Hereditas lacens 162 VIII. Charities 168 Ix. Roman Law and Legal Personality 206 INDEX OF PRINCIPAL TEXTS 237 INDEX OF SUBJECTS 239 PREFACE The following pages are an attempt to find out what Roman lawyers thought about juristic Personality, about the right of corporations and other entities to own pro- perty and bring law-suits. This right was certainly ex- tended from individuals to towns and voluntary associa- tions, and perhaps further. But the Romans did not theorise about it, and their ideas must be deduced partly from their language, and more from the rules laid down in law books and the practice we find in literary records and inscriptions. A final chapter discusses whether the ancient Roman law of Personality has any lessons for the present day. The. modern books I used most in writing the first draft, fourteen years ago, were Mitteis, Ramisches Privat- recht, Saleilles, De la Personnalitij uridique, Mommsen, De Collegiis et Sodaliciis Romanorum, and Waltzing, Les Corporationsp rofessionnelles chez les Romains. It would be impertinent for me to praise any of them, but it must be said that if I seem to differ from these authorities more often than I agree with them, that is because I never differ from them without trying to justify myself, whereas I constantly accept their doctrines without mentioning their names. A more recent work of great value and importance is Schnorr von Carolsfeld, Geschichte der juristischen Person, vol. 1, 1933. This book is much longer than mine and differently arranged, but vol. i, the only one yet published, corresponds roughly to my chapters i, iv and v. There are very few points on which I have changed my mind after reading Schnorr von Carolsfeld; for the most part we have come independently to the same conclusions; but he has collected and presented a vast mass of fresh evidence. The labour of sifting such a multitude of authorities must have been very arduous; and it is none the less valuable because it tends to confirm established opinions rather than to upset them. X PREFACE A book I did not come across till after mine was in proof is G. Kruger, Die Rechtstellung der vorkonstanti- nischen Kirchen, 1935. I cannot accept the author's view that Christian congregations were lawful and authorised as collegia cultorum, not funeraticia, as early as the second century; but her extensive quotations from the Church Fathers show that the episcopal administration we find under Justinian was already well developed before the time of Constantine. Some interesting general observa- tions, especially on the Western forerunners of the Byzantine charities, may also be found in "Les institu- tions d'assistance dans la socidtd romano-byzantine du ive sidcle h Justinien", by P. Laborderie-Boulou, in Revue Gindrale du Droit, de la Ligislation et de la 7uris- prudence en France et J l'itranger, vol. LIX, 1935- Greek and Egyptian law are outside my scope. I should have liked to follow up the pioneer work of San Nicolb, Agyptisches Vereinswesen, but decided it would take me too far afield. Consequently I cite very few papyri, and those Byzantine. For guiding me to them I have to thank Dr H. I. Bell. Much space has been saved by not recording that a text has been suspected of interpolation unless the suspicion seemed reasonable and the interpolation substantial. Thanks are due to many friends for their assistance, and especially to Professor W. W. Buckland, who originally suggested the subject, read the book both in manuscript and in proof, and has for fifteen years given me constant help and encouragement; to Professor L. Wenger, who read the work as it was in 1925 and made many valuable comments; to His Honour Judge Dowdall, who gave me some references for the word persona; and to Mr F. H. Lawson, Dr D. Daube and Dr K. Lipstein, who have helped me on particular points or told me of books and articles I might otherwise have missed. P.W.D. CAMBRIDGE March 1938 LIST OF BOOKS AND PERIODICALS CITED BY A MUCH ABBREVIATED TITLE OR REQUIRING AN INDICATION OF THE EDITION USED Albertario: Actio de Universitate e Actio Specialis in Rem, E. Albertario, 1919. Brinz: Lehrbuch der Pandekten, A. Brinz. Bruns: Fontes luris Romani Antiqui, ed. C. G. Bruns, 7th ed., 0. Graden- witz, 1909. Buckland: A Text-book of Roman Law from Augustus to Justinian, W. W. Buckland, and ed., 1932. Buckland, Slavery: The Roman Law of Slavery, W. W. Buckland, 1908. Bull. Ist. dir. rom.: Bullettino dell' Istituto di diritto romano. C.: Codex lustinianus. C. I. G.: Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum. C. I. L.: Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. C. Th.: Codex Theodosianus, ed. Th. Mommsen, 1905. Consultatio: Veteris cuiusdam iureconsulti consultatio, ed. B. Kabler, in lurisp. Anteiust. II. 2, 6th ed., 1927. Cugia: 11 Termine "Piae Causae", S. Cugia, in Studi giuridici in onore di Carlo Fadda, vol. v, 1906. D.: Digesta lustiniani. Duff, Charitable Foundations:T he Charitable Foundations of Byzantium, P. W. Duff, in Cambridge Legal Essays presented to Doctor Bond, Professor Buckland and Professor Kenny, 1926. Ephem.: Ephemeris Epigraphica, Corporis Inscriptionum Latinarum Supplementum, 1872-1913- G.: Gai Institutiones, ed. B. Kabler, 1935- Gierke, Genossenschaftsrecht: Das deutsche Genossenschaftsrecht, 0. Gierke. Girard, Manuel: Manuel 6ldmentaire de droit romain, P. F. Girard, 8th ed., F. Senn, 1929. -- Textes: Textes de droit romain, ed. P. F. Girard, th ed., 1923* 5 Halm: Rhetores Latini Minores, ed. C. Halm, 1863* Herman: Zum kirchlichen Benefizialwesen im Byzantinischen Reich, E. Herman, in Studia et Documenta Historiae et luris, vol. in, Rome, 1937- XII LIST OF BOOKS AND PERIODICALS Heumann-Seckel: Heumanns Handlexikon zu den Quellen des r6mischen Rechts, 9th ed., E. Seckel, 1907. Inst.: Institutiones lustiniani. lurisp. Anteiust.: lurisprudentiae Anteiustinianae Reliquiae, ed. P. E. Huschke, 6th ed., E. Seckel and B. Kubler. Jdrs: Ramisches Recht: Geschichte und System des rbmischen Privat- rechts, P. Jors, 1927. Kornemann: Collegium, Kornemann, in Pauly-Wissowa, 1901. Lachmann: Gromatici Veteres ex recensione Caroli Lachmanni: Die Schriften der r6mischen Feldmesser, herausgegeben und erlautert von F. Blume, K. Lachmann und A. RudorIf, vol. i, 1848. Lenel: Das Edictum Perpetuum, 0. Lenel, 3rd ed., 1927. L.Q.R.: Law Quarterly Review. Maitland, PoliticalT heories: Translator's Introduction to Political Theories of the Middle Age, 0. Gierke, tr. F. W. Maitland, 900. -- Trust and Corporation:o riginally published in Granhut's Zeitschrift for das Privat- und OFentliche Recht, vol. xxxi, 1904; reprinted in The Collected Papers of F. W. Maitland, vol. i, 191; and in Maitland, Selected Essays, 1936. Maspero: Catalogue Gdndral des Antiquitis tgyptiennes du Musde du Caire, Papyrus Grecs d'dpoque byzantine, Jean Maspero, 191T-13. Mitteis: R6misches Privatrecht bis auf die Zeit Diokletians, L. Mitteis, vol. i, 1908. Mommsen, De Collegiis: De Collegiis et Sodaliciis Romanorum, Th. Mommsen, 1843. Oxy. Pap.: The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, ed. B. P. Grenfell and A. S. Hunt, 1898- . P. or P. Stnt.: Pauli Sententiae. Pauly-Wissowa: Paulys Real-Encyclopidie der classischen Altertums- wissenschaft, ed. G. Wissowa. Saleilles: De la Personnalith juridique, R. Saleilles, 2nd ed., 1922. Savigny: System des heutigen R6mischen Rechts, F. C. von Savigny, 184o-48. Schlossmann: Persona und IHpdoawrov im Recht und im christlichen Dogma, S. Schlossmann, 1906. Schnorr von Carolsfeld: Geschichte der juristischen Person, L. Schnorr von Carolsfeld, vol. I, 1933- Thulin: Corpus Agrimensorum Romanorum, ed. C. Thulin, vol. i, fasc. I, 1913- U.: Ulpiani liber singularis regularum. LIST OF BOOKS AND PERIODICALS Xiii Waltzing: etude historique sur les Corporations professionnelles chez les Romains, J.-P. Waltzing, 4 vols., 1895-1900. Windscheid: Lehrbuch des Pandektenrechts, B. Windscheid, 8th ed., Th. Kipp, 3 vols., 1900-1. Z.8.8.: Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung fur Rechtsgeschichte, Romanis- tische Abteilung. References to the Corpus luris Civilis are to the Berlin Stereotype edition.