법학교수직에 대한 국가의 통제 ― 로마 후기의 사례를 중심으로 ―

Abstract

This paper discusses the state's control over the law professorship in ancient Rome, especially in the Later Roman Empire. The legal education in the Roman Republic and the Principate was, in principle, committed to the jurists, who freely communicated with their pupils on personal basis. It was sometimes performed in the public auditoriums offered by the state. During that period, Rome remained to be the capital place for the jurisprudence as well as for the legal education. The decline of the Roman jurisprudence since the middle of the third century A.D. brought about a change in the format of the jurists. Now they were mainly the teachers of law whom the state only exempted from the burden of the guardianship, allowing no salary from the state yet. In the Dominate, the emperors gradually began to promote and to control consciously the hitherto free legal education which was concentrated on the practice-oriented activities, even though sometimes accompanied by the theoretical instructions as well. The centers of the legal education founded in the eastern part of the Empire, especially Constantinople and Berytos (Beirut), played an extraordinary role. They provided the state with a group of legal and administrative experts acting as the public officials. Local municipalities also produced their lawyers. The concern about the quality of the higher education in the main disciplines, i.e., the liberal arts and the sciences such as rhetoric, philosophy and medicine, led to the introduction of the state-salary system and the exemption from the various munera, i.e., public and private burdens, of the teachers of the above disciplines, in as early as the middle of the first century A.D. The state control over the law professors, however, occurred somewhat later than that over the professors in other fields. However, from the middle of the fourth century A.D. onward, the regulations became a part of the system, which culminated in the law school reform by Justinian the Lawgiver in the middle of the sixth century A.D. There were only a few of the law professors. Instead, they were endowed with the payment and the allowances and, the last but not the least, were bestowed with a great honour both in the public status hierarchy and in the social estimation. The renowned professors in the law schools who are known by name built their own exclusive academic circles, “Professorendynastien.” (Wieacker) It is clear that they rendered their services of an excellent caliber and for that were called the “legum nutrix,” the foster-mothers of law. Their influence was above all due to their control over the graduation through the issuance to the students of a certificate of perfomance, which was at that time a requirement for the admission to the bar.