Acceso usuarios
Pierfrancesco Arces
The phenomenon of fugitive servants was particularly felt in Rome as early as the Republican age. It required an articulated analysis by jurists in strong synergy with the iurisdictio of the magistrates and then with the activity of the imperial chancellery. The efforts of the prudentes for a correct identification of the very notion of ‘servus fugitivus’ unfold over a period of at least four centuries. They are clearly affected by the requirements of a correct com- mercial practice in the sale of slaves and offer subtle distinctions, clearly useful for rhetorical practice. In Ulp. 1 ad ed. aed. cur., D. 21.1.17.pr.-16 is preserved the widest surviving articulation of classical jurisprudence on the notion of ‘servus fugitivus’. The exegesis of the text allows to identify in the literary genre of the commentary to the Edict of aediles the main source of reference for the reconstruction of this notion, following the development that leads it from the memory of the oldest late republican configuration to the one established in the imperial age by the Sabinian-Proculian reflection. This contribution goes beyond the deep-rooted doctrinal orientation that identifies the essential requirements for the configu- ration of the servant as a «fugitive» in the necessary coexistence of the materiality of the conduct and the intentional element: notwithstanding the reflection of the jurists on the aforementioned elements, in fact, the analysis of the paragraphs of Ulpian allows us to identify the real new element in the jurisprudential elaboration on the subject, particularly between the Julio-Claudian and Flavian ages, in the issue relating to the outflow of the servant from the master’s sphere of control.
