ABSTRACT

The third of the three parts of Gaius' institutional scheme was the law of actions. The law of actions is concerned with how persons can enforce their rights. The modern law of actions has therefore become distinct from the substantive law of the civil codes, and it is appropriate therefore to discuss it in separate chapters concerned with civil and criminal justice. The formulary system of actions was that controlled by the urban praetor, and it is generally agreed today that it developed out of, rather than being created to replace, the procedure by legis actio. Compared with private law, Roman criminal law was relatively undeveloped and unsophisticated. In the early republic, criminal jurisdiction was exercised by the consuls. In both civil and criminal justice, the passage from republican to imperial government, and in particular the transition to the monarchic regime of the Dominate, marked an increase in the authority of the State in the administration of the law.