Crimen maiestatis in Non-legal Sources – Livius, Tacitus, Ammianus Marcellinus

The article deals with a concept of the crimen maiestatis (crimen maiestatis or crimen laesae maiestatis) in the non-legal sources of Roman law. Attention is focused on three important historians of Principate and late Ancient times - Livius, Tacitus and Ammianus Marcellinus. The basis of the article consists in the Ab Urbe condita by Livius, the Annales by Tacitus and books of no.XIV to XVIII by Ammianus Marcellinus, which are known as The Twilight of the Roman Empire. The greatest attention is focused on the individual cases proceeded in that period and fragments, which are related to the particular statutes regulating the crimen maiestatis. Great explanatory abilities of these three authors from various periods are used for comparison of concepts of the constituent elements of crimen maiestatis. Constituent elements of crimen maiestatis were conceived very widely and their main purpose was primarily to ensure the stability of the Republican Constitution, to prosecute those who arrogated more rights than they lawfully disposed of. There was a set of statutes, which constantly expanded and adapted their constituent elements according to their period. In the Emperor time, there were already constituent elements, which protected the person of the emperor himself and also his family and at that his paintings and sculptures.