TRA GIURISDIZIONE CITTADINA E GIURISDIZIONE IMPERIALE: LA SFERA DI COMPETENZA DEL PROCONSOLE*

Abstract

Between local jurisdiction and imperial jurisdiction: the area of competences of the proconsul

This article deals with the coordination of the judicial competences between the three main authorities holding the right to administer justice in the public provinces of the Roman Empire: city, proconsul and prince. The central question is the norm and its application in administering justice in the provincial context, and also the inescapable discrepancy with the norms as they were defined. The first part of the article presents the main rules for the coordination between local and Roman jurisdictions. The second part examines the practical application of these rules in the imperial administration. It emphasizes the existence of many filters between litigants and proconsuls, filters designed to limit overloads in the proconsul’s tribunal for cases tried in first instance and in appeal. The situation is similar for the prince, whose interventions as trial or appeals judge in public provinces are studied in the third part. The result highlights the existence of tensions between the ideal of an imperial justice accessible to all (at least in appeals) and the necessity for the imperial court not to be overloaded by too many and by minor cases. The proconsul appears as a regulating authority acting as a intermediary and mediator between the cities and the prince.