LEANNE BABLITZ

Phone: (604) 822-4063
office: BUCH C228
email: lbablitz(at)interchange.ubc.ca

 

The social history and the law of the ancient Romans are the primary areas of my research. I am particularly interested in how the legal system manifested itself in the reality of Roman daily life as opposed to the ideal found in the law codes.

My first book examines the courtroom in Rome in the first two centuries AD drawing from three fields of study: Roman topography, Roman law, and Roman social history. More broadly this book contributes to our understanding of patronage in the imperial period, the accessibility of the courts to the lower classes, and the reinforcement of the established social hierarchy.

 

Having recently completed my first book, I'm currently exploring several overlapping research interests. I want to see what interests me the most!

Finding Justice in the Roman Empire

Cicero and the Courts

The Historical Evolution of Courtroom Interior Topography

Tacitus' Depiction of Trials

         This book has been the focus of my recent research.  In the early Empire litigation affected the daily lives of a vast percentage of the population of the city of Rome.  People could be involved in litigation directly as litigants, advocates, and judges and indirectly as members of the audience.  It was customary for individuals out of general interest to attend the various courts held in public places in the city centre.  This book investigates the participants and physical environment of the courtroom in Rome during the first two centuries AD.  It also discusses various practical matters connected with Roman trials. For the Routledge Press website advertisement: click here    

    This book undertakes to provide answers to three crucial questions.   First, if one were at a trial in a courtroom in Rome during the early Empire, what would one see?  Second, what were the motives and hopes that brought the various participants to the courtroom?   And third, in what ways did all people who were present participate in the trial process?

     In order to answer the first question, the first two chapters consider the physical nature of the courts found in Rome during the early Empire.  In the first chapter I examine the locations within the city of Rome in which legal hearings were known to have been held.  Located in very public settings, the courts made a major imprint on the urban landscape of the city of Rome.  On any given day, Romans out and about in the city could come across several courts.  Such public settings for the courts made the dispensation of justice both a very public and, in a way, very transparent business.  The second chapter moves into the courtroom itself and considers how the participants were physically situated there.  The focus of this chapter is upon a courtroom housing a criminal trial because the most extensive information survives concerning the physical attributes of this type of courtroom.  This chapter also treats how other types of courts possessed a variety of physical shapes.   Finally this chapter presents a possible reconstruction of the Centumviral Court because the source information for this court is particularly good and the building in which the court met, the Basilica Iulia, still stands.

      The first two chapters, therefore, set the scene for trials in the early Empire.  The remaining five chapters address the other two questions posed above, namely the motives and hopes of the participants at the trial and the ways in which they took part in the trial.  While each chapter attempts to address these three aspects (identity, motives, and participation), our surviving sources determine how evenly these aspects can be examined.  Chapters 3 to 5 present separate discussions of the litigant, the judge and the audience.  Chapters 6 and 7 treat the advocate, for whom the most evidence survives.  In the case of all these chapters the participants in the courtroom are considered from several perspectives. 

      Each chapter identifies those fulfilling a specific role, examining their status, sex and origins.  The chapter then considers the motivations of each type of participant.  For example, while we might assume that plaintiffs initiated litigation because they felt wronged in some way, we discover to our surprise that the only motive of many was to attack their personal enemies in a public environment. In relation to the audience, we find that some members attended the courts to be entertained.  Others came to fulfill a duty to their patron, who might be a litigant or advocate.  Yet others came to receive pay for their applause.  The examination of motives makes the importance of social status very clear.  Two advocates, differing in social status, might act for very different reasons.  And while it was seen as a great honour for someone from a provincial city to serve as a judge in one of the standing criminal courts in Rome, for a senator, busy with public affairs, this duty was little more than an encumbrance.   Chapters 3 to 7 each explore how a specific group physically participated in the trial itself.  Chapter 3 shows that litigants on occasion actually approached a judge and grasped his knees for effect.  Some litigants would move from their own bench to that of the opposition or even leave the courtroom entirely.  Chapter 5 shows that audiences often were very noisy during the trial itself and reacted not only with the clapping of hands but also by shouting out statements of approval or hostility.  Members of the audience also did not always remain for the entire trial but came and went during the speeches.  Chapter 7 especially illustrates the physical aspects of the advocate's involvement.   We have a wealth of information on how an advocate was to alter his stance and expressions throughout the delivery of his speech.

     This study is primarily interested in the physical aspects of the courtroom and in the activities of those present in the courtroom rather than in legal procedural issues.  For this reason the evidence for both criminal and civil courts is presented together except where sources indicate differences between them or where the evidence leans heavily to one type.   It is important to note that the sources themselves rarely acknowledge differences between the types of courtrooms, whether criminal or civil.  In the reconstruction of a Roman courtroom in Chapter 2, therefore, since most of the evidence is connected to the standing criminal court, that type of courtroom is given greater attention.  A subsequent section discusses in what ways a civil courtroom is different.  In contrast a worried litigant involved in a either a civil suit or a criminal trial would devote equal energy to finding an advocate to represent him.  This united presentation maintains the focus of the study.

      The Roman courtroom is an arena which brought together individuals from every social group of the population.  While gathered together within the same space, these individuals participated in this environment in several different ways.  All approached their roles with different ambitions, working under a variety of expectations concerning what they could achieve and enduring different types of demands.  The study of both the physical nature of the Roman courtroom and its participants provides both a visual reconstruction of the courtroom and an understanding of its participants.  It also offers insight into many of the more practical aspects of the daily functioning of the Roman legal system.  We learn, for example, when it was that the courts met during the calendar year, at what hours of the day these courts met, how judges were chosen and how out-of-town litigants found each other in the forum of Augustus before taking their dispute to the praetor.

      Much as with the Roman arena and theatre, we find in the Roman courtroom an opportunity to study the symbiotic interaction between people of diverse social standing and the manifestation and reinforcement of several cultural practices such as the patron/client relationship.

fragmentary relief found near Lacus Iuturnae - click on image to enlarge

Literary descriptions of the Roman courtroom of the early imperial period give us valuable information but do not tell us all. They may mention the various participants (e.g., litigants, advocates, judges, and audience), but often we are given no solid description of the physical setting. As part of my research into the Roman courtroom, I am also interested in images of legal scenes which date to the first two centuries AD. The settings in which these individual scenes are found are suggestive not only of the importance of legal activities to certain types of magistrates and individuals but also the placement of legal activity within the city of Rome. Within the scenes themselves it is possible to identify the roles of the portrayed individuals by means of the gestures and poses indicated. Also, based on the nature of the scenes, it is possible to propose the type of legal setting which is being portrayed within each. Through such examination we gain valuable insight not only into what a legal hearing looked like, but also into those elements of their legal system which the Romans felt warranted illustration and commemoration.

	coin of Hadrian

As another logical element of my research regarding the Roman courtroom but I have become interested in the use of physical objects within the courtroom.  My research into the use of physical objects within the courtroom, specifically platforms and benches, led to my examination of the use of the platform more generally within Rome itself.  This research has culminated in a large article which examines not only the physical forms which platforms took as well as the different situations in which they were used including such events as the emperor addressing the troops and distributions to the public.  This examination draws most of its evidence from visual representations of the platform found on coins, metalwork, and relief sculpture.

My research thus far has also led me to question how Romans referred to space within their language.  For example, what does the Latin phrase “in cornu” translate to in English? Does it mean at the corner, on the corner, in the corner....?  If one is considering the placement of an object within a space and such a phrase is used, it is important to understand what the author meant.  I also wonder what did “near” and “far” mean to individuals within the city of Rome?  In part these questions have stemmed from consideration of how the Roman courtroom managed within the public spaces within the city.  This, of course, also leads us to wonder how the usage of specific spaces was interpreted.

OTHER RESEARCH INTERESTS Early imperial history Roman wills and succession Death, funerals, and burial Tabulae Herculanenses and Sulpicii Roman oratory Latin epigraphy

	TEACHING Roman History, Republican and Empire Roman Law Roman Women Latin Language and Literature Roman Army