Sed iuxta legis severitatem congruenti poena ulciscetur (Kατά την του νόμου αυστηρότητα θα κολάσει δια προσφόρου ποινής)

Abstract

Late Antiquity, or rather the post classical period, the Dominate, is a term familiar especially to legal historians; it means the final period of Roman iurisprudence. Apart of that it is a crucial period of change and transition in the history of the Roman Empire where each and every one challenge to imperial authority elicited an energetic response. It is a well documented period especially in contrast to the dearth of the mid-third century. There is a notable richness in the variety and number of imperial texts, deriving from legal sources. Those texts prove that legal science did not die with the Principate, but took on forms suitable to contemporary conditions. This study discusses the results of the transition from the time of the Principate to the time of the Dominate in the legal proceedings and the criminal law. With reference to the laws included in the Codex Hermogenianus, as ad hoc law, namely, the whole output of rescripts for the years 293/294, the study focuses on the jurisdiction in criminal cases, in particular on the role of the governor of a province, not only in answering petitions but also judging according to the cognitio procedure, and on the extra ordinem execution of a penalty.