ABSTRACT
The contribution deals with the analysis of cases of violence affecting the free formation of the contractual will, as attested by epigraphs and papyri for the Eastern provinces between the Republican age and the Principate. In particular, the normative and procedural remedies adopted for the individual cases examined and aimed at invalidating contracts extorted with violence will be examined. From the investigation of the sources, both concerning the province of Asia and Egypt, no importance seems to be given to the distinction between physical violence and moral violence, which appear to be equal also regarding the consequences on the contract submitted to the attention of the judicial authority. The examination of these sources, also in the light of the praetorian remedies and the Roman jurisprudential reflection, can contribute to a reexamination of the Roman tradition’s roots that have led over the centuries to the consolidation of the traditional distinction between vis absoluta and vis compulsiva, the boundaries of which could be overcome under the aspect of remediality in the perspective of the broader protection of the contracting party in conditions of fragility.
