lawyers, Roman

lawyers, Roman
or jurists (iuris prudentes, iuris consulti, iuris periti, iuris studiosi) were a specialized professional group in Roman society distinct from those humble clerks and notaries who copied documents and recorded proceedings. That society was unusual in that in the later republic and empire there emerged for the first time in history a class of secular legal experts who, whether they made a living from their profession or not, were regarded as the repositories of a special type of learning useful to the state and private citizens. Until the 3rd cent. bc knowledge of the law and its procedure was a monopoly of the patrician priesthood, the college of pontifices (see priests), whose advice was sought on the law of the state cult but also on secular forms. From then on some who were not members of the priestly college began to give advice on law; but until the end of the republic...

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