Law and Rhetoric in the causa Curiana

Roč.6,(2000)

J. W. Tellegen Olga Eveline Tellegen-Couperus

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Abstrakt
The article re‑examines the famous causa Curiana—a late Republican inheritance dispute known through Cicero—and challenges the dominant modern view that it reflects a clash between law and rhetoric. By analysing Cicero’s accounts and later scholarly interpretations, the authors argue that the traditional separation between jurists and orators is anachronistic, arising from 19th‑century historiography and interpolation criticism. Both Scaevola and Crassus employed mixed rhetorical and legal argumentation consistent with Roman practice. The centumviri’s decision likely confirmed an already accepted legal understanding. The case became a cause célèbre not for legal innovation but as a model illustration of the verba–voluntas status in action.

Klíčová slova:
causa Curiana; Cicero; Roman rhetoric; Roman inheritance law; verba-voluntas; Scaevola; Crassus; centumviri; anachronism; legal history

Stránky:
171–202
Metriky

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