Persecution and the Ambiguity of Roman Law

2020 ◽  
pp. 81-110
Author(s):  
D. H. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Legal Status ◽  
Roman Law ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
Tiny Amount ◽  
The 1960S

This chapter considers the legal status of Christianity before the first imperially initiated persecution under Decius (249–251). Generally speaking, there are a number of ambiguities when it comes to determining the attitude of Roman law toward Christian communities. Roman officials rarely found themselves in legal situations that would have demanded special legislation toward the Christians. As a result, only a tiny amount of legal protocol had accumulated before the mid-third century for regulating procedure when it came to dealing with Christians. After several exhaustive reviews of Christian and non-Christian sources in the 1960s, against which there have been no successful contradictory arguments, it appears that the Romans did not issue any special legislation against Christians or Christianity.

General Conclusions

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moshe Blidstein
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
Early Christianity ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
Dietary Laws

In the general conclusion, I discuss the consequences of the textual analyses for the overarching theme of the book—how purity and defilement are redefined in early Christianity to support the theology, demonology, and understanding of human nature found in second- and third-century communities, and to construct the identity of these communities. I compare different areas of purity discourse (sexuality, dietary laws, asceticism, baptism), and trace the historical development of purity concepts and ideas through the first three centuries of Christianity, underlining the unique place of Origen and of Jewish-Christian communities in this development.

Features of the legal status of subjects of Civil Law

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-188
Author(s):  
Iryna I. Banasevych ◽  
Ruslana M. Heints ◽  
Mariia V. Lohvinova ◽  
Oksana S. Oliinyk
Keyword(s):  
Legal Status ◽  
Civil Law ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
The State ◽  
Roman Law ◽  
Historical Method ◽  
Legal Method ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Legal Entities

Theoretical and applied research of the features of the legal status of the subjects of civil law remains debatable today. Doctrinal and legislative analysis of this subject points to unresolved issues in this area. In particular, the provision on defining the state as a party to civil law remains controversial. There is no consensus on the definition of individuals and legal entities as subjects of civil law among scholars. Furthermore, the legal regulation of certain types of entities is somewhat unsystematic and chaotic. This is largely due to the insufficient development of theoretical issues related to the subjects of civil law. The above issues determine the relevance of the study of the features of the legal status of subjects of civil law. The purpose of the study is to investigate the features of the legal status of subjects of civil law based on doctrinal and legislative analysis. The study is based on a systematic approach, which lies in studying a complex system of relationships between subjects of civil law. Furthermore, the study is based on the laws and principles of dialectics, which contribute to the study of the legal status of the subjects of civil law. Systemic and structural-functional analysis was used to comprehensively describe the legal status of subjects of civil law. The historical method contributed to the study of the evolution of research on the subjects of civil law. The formal legal method helped identify the special features of the provisions of regulations concerning the subjects of civil law. With the help of the comparative legal method, the study analysed the provisions of the Civil Code of Ukraine in terms of regulation of subjects of civil law and such regulation was compared with other countries. The study defined the concepts and types of subjects of civil law and considered the features of the legal status of individuals, legal entities, as well as the state as a special participant of civil law. Special attention was paid to the historical analysis of the development of approaches to the definition of subjects of law, starting with Roman law

scholarly journals Between Heaven and Earth: Family ownership versus rights of monastic communities. The Theodosian Code and late antique legal practice

2020 ◽  
pp. 117-170
Author(s):  
Marzena Wojtczak
Keyword(s):  
Roman Law ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
Monastic Communities ◽  
The Will ◽  
The One ◽  
Secular Power ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Heaven And Earth

This article investigates the relationship between the legislation introduced in the field of proprietary rights assigned to various Church entities and the practice of accumulation of wealth by the monastic communities in late antique Egypt. On the one hand, among the literary sources the predominant theme concerning Egyptian monasticism is the idea of voluntary poverty and renunciation of worldly possessions aimed at the pursuance of a contemplative life. On the other hand, the papyri offer insight into monastic life that does not seem to have been entirely detached from the outside world. In this vein, the laws of Valentinian I and Theodosius II clearly indicate that monks and nuns continued to own property without disturbance after undertaking religious life. In addition, Theodosius the Great and later emperors restricted the freedom of certain groups of citizens to disown their property, rendering the Christian ideal of voluntary poverty not always feasible. It is only with Justinian that the rules regarding monastic poverty are shaped and set by the secular power. The incentive for this study is to check for any conflict between the principles of classical Roman law in the field of private ownership and imperial legislation included in the Codex Theodosianus. Giorgio Barone-Adesi observed the tension that took place between the Christian communities and their corporations that were allotted ever broader privileges and the Roman principle of preservation of the property within the family unit. There is, however, still some room left for discussion since not all the data easily adds up to an unequivocal conclusion. In this analysis, the Code is treated as a measure for taking a stand by the legislator in the dispute between the will of the owner, recognition of the rights of the heirs and family members, and finally the privileges granted to the religious consortia.

scholarly journals Constructing the rights and duties of slave-owners as socio-historic context of the New Testament

2009 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Goede
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Roman Law ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Jewish Law ◽  
Religious Context ◽  
Legal Context ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Legal Contexts

This article aims to construct the rights and duties of slave- owners in antiquity as part of the socio-historical context of the New Testament. In order to achieve this aim, the primary sources referring to Greek, Roman and Jewish law of slavery will first be described. Three aspects of the law of slavery, namely legal definitions of freedom and slavery, the legal status of slaves, and the rights of slave-owners are investigated in Greek, Roman and Jewish law. Relevant texts from these sources are then identified, analysed and interpreted. The re- sults of this process of analysis and interpretation are used to construct the legal context within which the exhortations directed at slave-owners in the New Testament should be read. We submit that Jewish law provided a sound alternative legal and religious context to the writers of the New Testament addressing Christian slave-owners. This alternative context functioned as a counterweight to the strict legal contexts pro- vided by Greek and Roman law.

Berlin and the Quadripartite Agreement of 1971

1973 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Günther Doeker ◽  
Klaus Melsheimer ◽  
Dieter Schröder
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Analysis ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Divided Germany

The present legal status of Berlin after the conclusion on September 3, 1971 of the Quadripartite Agreement between France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States can only be understood in terms of its own historical development and the context of the international politics of the 1960s. Although any legal and political analysis of divided Germany and Berlin must take into account a period of history dating back to the 1940s, it is assumed here that the essential facts are sufficiently well known to serve as a background for the following analysis.

scholarly journals Civilized Drinking: Alcohol and Society in New Brunswick, 1945-1975

2006 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 173-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Greg Marquis
Keyword(s):  
New Brunswick ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Alcohol Policy ◽  
Treatment Programs ◽  
Temperance Movement ◽  
Terrain Following ◽  
Drinking Age ◽  
Consumption Rates ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S

Abstract Alcohol policy in New Brunswick was contested terrain. Following the political defeat of prohibition, the province introduced government liquor stores in 1927, but refused for more than three decades to license public establishments, although Legions and private clubs enjoyed a quasi-legal status. By the end of the Second World War, the province had one of the lowest liquor consumption rates in Canada, a small but vocal temperance movement, and a fairly dry hospitality sector. During the 1960s and 1970s, access to alcohol was liberalized with the licensing of taverns and dining rooms, the decriminalization of public drunkenness, and the lowering of the drinking age to 19. Meanwhile, the public health, social service, legal and voluntary sectors lobbied for prevention and treatment programs based on the disease concept of alcoholism, rather than the moralistic arguments of the older temperance movement. By 1975, it was clear that New Brunswick's alcohol control policies mirrored the wider Canadian experience as residents were treated to competing discourses: drinking was a modern, reasonable, and fashionable recreation but alcohol was society's most widespread and costly addictions problem.

The Nativity scene in a shared religious space: The case study of Saint-Pierre’s Church in Montreal

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 347-371
Author(s):  
Monica Grigore-Dovlete ◽  
Lori G Beaman
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Religious Community ◽  
The Public ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
French Speaking ◽  
Major Transformation ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Material Religion

Once called “the priest-ridden province,” the transformations brought about by the Quiet Revolution in the 1960s left the churches in Quebec deserted, while the idea of a secular Quebec became part of the public discourse about Quebec identity. Lacking the financial support of an active community, many Catholic churches were demolished or repurposed. They were thus transformed into residential or institutional spaces, entering what might be conceptualized as a secular order. Some churches managed to delay this major transformation by sharing their space with another religious community. This is the case of a Catholic church located in Montreal that we call Saint-Pierre’s Church. Today, the old building of Saint-Pierre’s Church accommodates two Christian communities: one is French-speaking Catholic and the other is Romanian Orthodox. At first glance, no tensions seem to trouble their coexistence. However, people’s perspectives of religious artifacts depict a slightly different image. Starting from participant observation and interviews carried out in 2016 and 2017 with members of both communities, we use the material religion framework to examine the power of materiality to invoke people’s emotions and to tell a story. The material religion framework allowed us to explore how the understanding of the shared place is linked to the dynamics and the contingencies of each community, and how the transformation of religious space happens in a rapidly changing context to which traditional majoritarian religion is attempting to adjust.

Ownership and Power in Roman Law

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luigi Capogrossi Colognesi
Keyword(s):  
Early Development ◽  
The Other ◽  
Roman Law ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Private Ownership ◽  
Roman Society

Private ownership played a central role in all periods of Roman society. In its early development, the Roman law of property knew two different ways in which private ownership of res mancipi and res nec mancipi could be transferred. In the late third century BC, the Roman jurists and the praetor were able to distinguish clearly between simple possession and full ownership: dominium ex iure Quiritium. Later on, they separated from this same dominium certain entitlements to use and enjoyment, which they classified as iura in re aliena. On one side, the original bundle of powers of the owner was hived off to constitute the usufruct, which coincided with what we might refer to as the “ordinary enjoyment” of the object. On the other side many praedial servitudes were created which allowed a landowner to make a limited use of another’s land. This chapter surveys that process.

Barbarian Disturbances in North Africa in the Mid-Third Century

Antichthon ◽  
1970 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 78-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.W. Clarke
Keyword(s):  
North Africa ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Open Letter ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
Entire World ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Way

Gibbon describes the years that correspond with the lifetime of Cyprian of Carthage thus: ‘the whole period was one uninterrupted series of confusion and calamity’. On the whole the impression to be gained from the extant correspondence of Cyprian of Carthage (the eighty-two letters are to be dated between the years c.249 and 258) is not of this kind and this evidence ought to act in some degree as a brake on exaggerated descriptions of the chaos of the period. Cyprian can assume, without the slightest hint of doubt, uninterrupted ease of communications all around the Mediterranean, freely cross-referring to other public letters of his on the assumption that they must have come the way of his correspondents. Similarly he is prepared to claim of an open letter written by the Roman clergy that it ‘has been circulated throughout the entire world and has reached the knowledge of every Church and of all the brethren’. The official correspondence which Cyprian conducted is indeed of notable breadth and frequency—among the letters which we chance to have figure communications with Christian communities in Spain, in Gaul, in Cappadocia (all suggesting previous correspondence with these areas), and of course in Rome and elsewhere in Italy. As Metropolitan of the African Church he sends to Rome on one occasion a list of all the orthodox African bishops and their sees, no doubt in order to keep the Roman records up-to-date—and also their address-list for their communications. Furthermore, after the abortively threatening persecution of Gallus the regular meetings in Carthage of the African synod appear to have been resumed. At Carthage, at any rate, life appears to have been little affected by the military and administrative débâcle that was becoming evident in imperial circles and from Cyprian’s point of view the Mediterranean world still appeared to be very much a unity.

Public Opinion and the Legal Status of Marijuana in Australia

1993 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 409-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toni Makkai ◽  
Ian McAllister
Keyword(s):  
Government Policy ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Public Support ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Opinion Poll ◽  
New Politics ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Poll Data

Since the late 1950s, when the medical use of heroin was banned in Australia, government policy toward marijuana has been based on prohibition. Despite an upsurge in the use of marijuana in the 1960s, government policy has remained virtually unchanged, except for the introduction of the expiation notice in South Australia in 1986. The authors use a wide range of opinion poll data to show that attitudes toward marijuana have remained stable over the past two decades, although the most recent data suggest that public support for reform of the legal status of marijuana may be increasing. There are notable differences in opinion between sociodemographic groups, with men, the young, and those who have been exposed to marijuana being more likely to support reform. The authors argue that as more people who have been exposed to marijuana enter the electorate and as New Politics issues become more prominent, the legal status of marijuana could become a political party issue. Data collected during the 1990 federal election among election candidates suggest that the potential for political party conflict already exists.

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