Viva vox. Qualche riflessione intorno a Marc. 1 inst. D. 1, 1, 8
In: Bullettino dell'Istituto di Diritto Romano "Vittorio Scialoja": 7, 2017
DOI: 10.1400/258338
This paper attempts to formulate a new exegesis of Marc.1 inst. D. 1, 1, 8. Three well-known texts (Gai. 1, 6 and Pomp. lib. sing. ench. D. 1, 2, 2, 10 e 12) would point out how, among the main jurists during the Antonine Age, the locution ius honorarium was related to the law arising from the all the magistrates’ jurisdictional activity. Therefore, the ius praetorium costituted only a part of the ius honorarium. This last did not run out with the praetor role’s gradual reshaping, as it would also appear from the Institutiones Iustiniani (Inst. 1, 2, 7). It seems that Marcianus refers to this law when he asserts: Ius honorarium viva vox est iuris civilis. Moreover, we learn from non-juridical texts that the syntagma viva vox was commonly used. This expression would state the uninterrupted reflection about the past acquisitions, suitable for adapt and update them. Equally, the Severian jurist meant that the magistrates’ reasoning about the ius civile was the tool to conform and renovate it to the social regulation’s new requests.