CRIMINAL TRIAL IN FRONT OF THE ROMAN SENATE DURING THE REIGN OF TIBERIUS

Abstract

The changes in the social-economic and state structure of Rome, carried

out at the time of the Principal (1st century BC – 3rd century AD), i.e. at the

transition from republican to monarchial state order, inevitably reflected

on the Roman criminal justice. Indeed, at this initial time of the so-called

Roman classical law, the remains of the former cognition procedure still

existed and dominated the so-called Quaestiones perpetuae or

Quaestiones ordinariae (jury courts), but, despite this, in the early period

of the Empire, new forms of criminal courts were introduced. In this paper,

due to the limited available space, we will focus mainly on organization

and jurisdiction of the Roman Senate – as aristocratic state body of the

nobility, and the trials that took place in front of it in this turbulent period

of Roman state and legal history, with particular regard to the rule of the

second emperor Tiberius (ruled 14–37 AD).