The course aims to provide students with an advanced understanding of the evolution of the praefectura urbi within the institutional framework of the Roman Principate, with particular emphasis on the development and consolidation of the criminal jurisdiction of the praefectus urbi from the Augustan age to the Severan period.
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:
• explain the evolution of the powers exercised by the praefectus urbi in the fields of public security (custodia urbis) and criminal justice, placing them within the broader transformation of the institutions of the Principate;
• critically analyse the relationship between institutional organization, the administration of criminal justice, and the maintenance of public order in Roman legal experience;
• interpret the principal literary, epigraphic, and legal sources (including imperial rescripts, imperial constitutions, and texts from the Digest) by applying the methodological tools of Roman legal history;
• reconstruct, through the critical analysis of primary sources, the development of the urban prefect's criminal jurisdiction and assess its significance within the broader process of administrative and judicial centralization under the Principate;
• employ the technical vocabulary of Roman public law accurately and develop well-reasoned arguments on issues concerning the relationship between institutions, public security, and criminal repression.
The course also aims to foster students' independent critical judgment in the interpretation of primary sources and modern scholarship, equipping them with the methodological skills required for the historical and legal analysis of Roman public institutions and their evolution.
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:
• explain the evolution of the powers exercised by the praefectus urbi in the fields of public security (custodia urbis) and criminal justice, placing them within the broader transformation of the institutions of the Principate;
• critically analyse the relationship between institutional organization, the administration of criminal justice, and the maintenance of public order in Roman legal experience;
• interpret the principal literary, epigraphic, and legal sources (including imperial rescripts, imperial constitutions, and texts from the Digest) by applying the methodological tools of Roman legal history;
• reconstruct, through the critical analysis of primary sources, the development of the urban prefect's criminal jurisdiction and assess its significance within the broader process of administrative and judicial centralization under the Principate;
• employ the technical vocabulary of Roman public law accurately and develop well-reasoned arguments on issues concerning the relationship between institutions, public security, and criminal repression.
The course also aims to foster students' independent critical judgment in the interpretation of primary sources and modern scholarship, equipping them with the methodological skills required for the historical and legal analysis of Roman public institutions and their evolution.
Curriculum
teacher profile teaching materials
Unit 1 - Sources and method for the study of Roman public law
Introduction to the course and its object; the types of sources used in research on the urban prefecture (legal, literary, epigraphic) and the criteria for their legal-historical criticism; the office's regal and republican origins and its re-emergence in 47 BCE.
Unit 2 - The urban prefecture as an institution: the Augustan 'revolution'
Augustus' reform and the birth of custodia urbis; the case of L. Calpurnius Piso; the territorial limits of the office's competence within the centesimus lapis; the office's place within the system of magistracies and administrative offices of the Principate. A dedicated seminar compares the urban prefect with other figures of security and extraordinary jurisdiction (praefectus vigilum, praefectus praetorio), to bring the specificity of his role into focus.
Unit 3 - The vocabulary of power: coercitio, iurisdictio, cognitio extra ordinem
A cross-cutting dogmatic analysis of the discipline's three key notions, with particular attention to their semantic evolution between the late Republic and the Severan age and to the shift, in the prefect's practice, from police powers to a fully-fledged criminal jurisdiction exercised extra ordinem.
Unit 4 - The prefect as judge in the first century: the case-study method
Applying the case-study method to the earliest sources: the will of Valerius Fabianus, the case of P. Cornelius Dolabella, and the testimony of Statius' Silvae, read as evidence of an as yet unsystematic exercise of the prefect's iurisdictio.
Unit 5 - The expansion of competences under the Antonines: public order and religious dissent
The rescript to Sex. Erucius Clarus and the question of the purported rescript to Salvius Julianus, read as stages in the progressive formalisation of the prefect's criminal jurisdiction; the repression of religious dissent in the testimony of Justin Martyr, with discussion of the methodological caution required when using an apologetic source.
Unit 6 - Family, personal status, and prefectural jurisdiction
The prefect's competences over domestic relations; crimina involving the enslaved and freed population; notes on prefectural 'civil' jurisdiction. A synthesis of the second century: from case-by-case jurisdiction to an increasingly general competence.
Unit 7 - The Severan turning point: reorganising the officium
Septimius Severus' epistula to Fabius Cilo and the debate on the 'refoundation' of the prefectural officium; the freedman's maintenance obligations and the hypothesis on ingratitudo; a full reading and commentary of D. 1.12.1 (§§ 5-13), taken as the key text of the entire course.
Unit 8 - From first-instance jurisdiction to a synthesis of the system
The urban prefect's appellate jurisdiction: chronology and legal basis; the monograph's concluding remarks, read in light of the three evolutionary phases of the custos urbis's criminal jurisdiction; situating the phenomenon within the broader bureaucratisation of imperial power.
Unit 9 - Workshop on Romanist research and final review
An exercise on the use of bibliographical repertories and on building a Romanist research path from a scholarly monograph; a cross-cutting review of the course's key problems in preparation for the examination.
Mutuazione: 20101131 DIRITTO PUBBLICO ROMANO in GIURISPRUDENZA LMG/01 R N0 GALEOTTI SARA
Programme
The course does not simply follow the table of contents of the core monograph; rather, it reorganises its material into nine thematic teaching units, designed to lead students from the general methodological framework, through conceptual and case-based analysis, to a final historical-dogmatic synthesis. Each unit combines close reading of the sources with seminar discussion and, where useful, comparative perspectives not found in the monograph itself (relations with other extraordinary jurisdictions, the office's place within the bureaucratisation of imperial administration).Unit 1 - Sources and method for the study of Roman public law
Introduction to the course and its object; the types of sources used in research on the urban prefecture (legal, literary, epigraphic) and the criteria for their legal-historical criticism; the office's regal and republican origins and its re-emergence in 47 BCE.
Unit 2 - The urban prefecture as an institution: the Augustan 'revolution'
Augustus' reform and the birth of custodia urbis; the case of L. Calpurnius Piso; the territorial limits of the office's competence within the centesimus lapis; the office's place within the system of magistracies and administrative offices of the Principate. A dedicated seminar compares the urban prefect with other figures of security and extraordinary jurisdiction (praefectus vigilum, praefectus praetorio), to bring the specificity of his role into focus.
Unit 3 - The vocabulary of power: coercitio, iurisdictio, cognitio extra ordinem
A cross-cutting dogmatic analysis of the discipline's three key notions, with particular attention to their semantic evolution between the late Republic and the Severan age and to the shift, in the prefect's practice, from police powers to a fully-fledged criminal jurisdiction exercised extra ordinem.
Unit 4 - The prefect as judge in the first century: the case-study method
Applying the case-study method to the earliest sources: the will of Valerius Fabianus, the case of P. Cornelius Dolabella, and the testimony of Statius' Silvae, read as evidence of an as yet unsystematic exercise of the prefect's iurisdictio.
Unit 5 - The expansion of competences under the Antonines: public order and religious dissent
The rescript to Sex. Erucius Clarus and the question of the purported rescript to Salvius Julianus, read as stages in the progressive formalisation of the prefect's criminal jurisdiction; the repression of religious dissent in the testimony of Justin Martyr, with discussion of the methodological caution required when using an apologetic source.
Unit 6 - Family, personal status, and prefectural jurisdiction
The prefect's competences over domestic relations; crimina involving the enslaved and freed population; notes on prefectural 'civil' jurisdiction. A synthesis of the second century: from case-by-case jurisdiction to an increasingly general competence.
Unit 7 - The Severan turning point: reorganising the officium
Septimius Severus' epistula to Fabius Cilo and the debate on the 'refoundation' of the prefectural officium; the freedman's maintenance obligations and the hypothesis on ingratitudo; a full reading and commentary of D. 1.12.1 (§§ 5-13), taken as the key text of the entire course.
Unit 8 - From first-instance jurisdiction to a synthesis of the system
The urban prefect's appellate jurisdiction: chronology and legal basis; the monograph's concluding remarks, read in light of the three evolutionary phases of the custos urbis's criminal jurisdiction; situating the phenomenon within the broader bureaucratisation of imperial power.
Unit 9 - Workshop on Romanist research and final review
An exercise on the use of bibliographical repertories and on building a Romanist research path from a scholarly monograph; a cross-cutting review of the course's key problems in preparation for the examination.
Prerequisiti
Students are expected to have foundational knowledge of Roman Law and/or Roman Legal History (in particular: the sources of law, the constitutional structure of the Principate). At least a basic knowledge of Latin legal vocabulary is helpful, though not required; sources in the original languages (Latin and Greek) will always be accompanied by an Italian translation.Core Documentation
S. Galeotti, Tra vigilanza e repressione. La giurisdizione criminale del prefetto dell'Urbe da Augusto a Settimio Severo (OPVSCVLA NOVA), Napoli: ES, 2026 (open access).Attendance
Attendance is not mandatory. However, regular participation in the lessons is recommended, given the seminar-style nature of the course and its strong emphasis on direct reading of the sources. Students who do not attend are required to agree with the professor, during the semester, on the program of exam topics and any additional readings beyond the reference monograph.Type of evaluation
Learning is assessed through a final oral examination, designed to verify: ● knowledge of the course's historical-institutional content; ● the ability to read and comment on the legal and literary sources covered in class; ● the ability to argue critically on the discipline's key problems, with reference to the main scholarly positions. Attending students may opt, as a partial alternative to the oral examination, to prepare a short written paper (10-15 pages) on a source or monographic topic agreed with the professor, to be presented in seminar; the paper contributes to the final grade together with an oral examination on the remainder of the course content. For non-attending students, the oral examination covers the entire course content, without the option of substituting the written paper. Final grades are expressed on a 30-point scale (out of 30). 18–20: sufficient but minimal and non-in-depth knowledge of the subject. 21–25: fair / more than sufficient knowledge of the contents. 26–29: good / very good knowledge of the subject’s structures, with evidence of critical ability. 30–30 cum laude: excellent / outstanding knowledge of the subject, combined with excellent analytical, critical, and synthetic skills. Language of the oral exam: Italian. Students with disabilities or specific learning disorders (SLD), who intend to request the adaptation of the exam, must follow the instructions given in the following link: https://portalestudente.uniroma3.it/iscrizioni/dsa/ teacher profile teaching materials
Unit 1 - Sources and method for the study of Roman public law
Introduction to the course and its object; the types of sources used in research on the urban prefecture (legal, literary, epigraphic) and the criteria for their legal-historical criticism; the office's regal and republican origins and its re-emergence in 47 BCE.
Unit 2 - The urban prefecture as an institution: the Augustan 'revolution'
Augustus' reform and the birth of custodia urbis; the case of L. Calpurnius Piso; the territorial limits of the office's competence within the centesimus lapis; the office's place within the system of magistracies and administrative offices of the Principate. A dedicated seminar compares the urban prefect with other figures of security and extraordinary jurisdiction (praefectus vigilum, praefectus praetorio), to bring the specificity of his role into focus.
Unit 3 - The vocabulary of power: coercitio, iurisdictio, cognitio extra ordinem
A cross-cutting dogmatic analysis of the discipline's three key notions, with particular attention to their semantic evolution between the late Republic and the Severan age and to the shift, in the prefect's practice, from police powers to a fully-fledged criminal jurisdiction exercised extra ordinem.
Unit 4 - The prefect as judge in the first century: the case-study method
Applying the case-study method to the earliest sources: the will of Valerius Fabianus, the case of P. Cornelius Dolabella, and the testimony of Statius' Silvae, read as evidence of an as yet unsystematic exercise of the prefect's iurisdictio.
Unit 5 - The expansion of competences under the Antonines: public order and religious dissent
The rescript to Sex. Erucius Clarus and the question of the purported rescript to Salvius Julianus, read as stages in the progressive formalisation of the prefect's criminal jurisdiction; the repression of religious dissent in the testimony of Justin Martyr, with discussion of the methodological caution required when using an apologetic source.
Unit 6 - Family, personal status, and prefectural jurisdiction
The prefect's competences over domestic relations; crimina involving the enslaved and freed population; notes on prefectural 'civil' jurisdiction. A synthesis of the second century: from case-by-case jurisdiction to an increasingly general competence.
Unit 7 - The Severan turning point: reorganising the officium
Septimius Severus' epistula to Fabius Cilo and the debate on the 'refoundation' of the prefectural officium; the freedman's maintenance obligations and the hypothesis on ingratitudo; a full reading and commentary of D. 1.12.1 (§§ 5-13), taken as the key text of the entire course.
Unit 8 - From first-instance jurisdiction to a synthesis of the system
The urban prefect's appellate jurisdiction: chronology and legal basis; the monograph's concluding remarks, read in light of the three evolutionary phases of the custos urbis's criminal jurisdiction; situating the phenomenon within the broader bureaucratisation of imperial power.
Unit 9 - Workshop on Romanist research and final review
An exercise on the use of bibliographical repertories and on building a Romanist research path from a scholarly monograph; a cross-cutting review of the course's key problems in preparation for the examination.
Mutuazione: 20101131 DIRITTO PUBBLICO ROMANO in GIURISPRUDENZA LMG/01 R N0 GALEOTTI SARA
Programme
The course does not simply follow the table of contents of the core monograph; rather, it reorganises its material into nine thematic teaching units, designed to lead students from the general methodological framework, through conceptual and case-based analysis, to a final historical-dogmatic synthesis. Each unit combines close reading of the sources with seminar discussion and, where useful, comparative perspectives not found in the monograph itself (relations with other extraordinary jurisdictions, the office's place within the bureaucratisation of imperial administration).Unit 1 - Sources and method for the study of Roman public law
Introduction to the course and its object; the types of sources used in research on the urban prefecture (legal, literary, epigraphic) and the criteria for their legal-historical criticism; the office's regal and republican origins and its re-emergence in 47 BCE.
Unit 2 - The urban prefecture as an institution: the Augustan 'revolution'
Augustus' reform and the birth of custodia urbis; the case of L. Calpurnius Piso; the territorial limits of the office's competence within the centesimus lapis; the office's place within the system of magistracies and administrative offices of the Principate. A dedicated seminar compares the urban prefect with other figures of security and extraordinary jurisdiction (praefectus vigilum, praefectus praetorio), to bring the specificity of his role into focus.
Unit 3 - The vocabulary of power: coercitio, iurisdictio, cognitio extra ordinem
A cross-cutting dogmatic analysis of the discipline's three key notions, with particular attention to their semantic evolution between the late Republic and the Severan age and to the shift, in the prefect's practice, from police powers to a fully-fledged criminal jurisdiction exercised extra ordinem.
Unit 4 - The prefect as judge in the first century: the case-study method
Applying the case-study method to the earliest sources: the will of Valerius Fabianus, the case of P. Cornelius Dolabella, and the testimony of Statius' Silvae, read as evidence of an as yet unsystematic exercise of the prefect's iurisdictio.
Unit 5 - The expansion of competences under the Antonines: public order and religious dissent
The rescript to Sex. Erucius Clarus and the question of the purported rescript to Salvius Julianus, read as stages in the progressive formalisation of the prefect's criminal jurisdiction; the repression of religious dissent in the testimony of Justin Martyr, with discussion of the methodological caution required when using an apologetic source.
Unit 6 - Family, personal status, and prefectural jurisdiction
The prefect's competences over domestic relations; crimina involving the enslaved and freed population; notes on prefectural 'civil' jurisdiction. A synthesis of the second century: from case-by-case jurisdiction to an increasingly general competence.
Unit 7 - The Severan turning point: reorganising the officium
Septimius Severus' epistula to Fabius Cilo and the debate on the 'refoundation' of the prefectural officium; the freedman's maintenance obligations and the hypothesis on ingratitudo; a full reading and commentary of D. 1.12.1 (§§ 5-13), taken as the key text of the entire course.
Unit 8 - From first-instance jurisdiction to a synthesis of the system
The urban prefect's appellate jurisdiction: chronology and legal basis; the monograph's concluding remarks, read in light of the three evolutionary phases of the custos urbis's criminal jurisdiction; situating the phenomenon within the broader bureaucratisation of imperial power.
Unit 9 - Workshop on Romanist research and final review
An exercise on the use of bibliographical repertories and on building a Romanist research path from a scholarly monograph; a cross-cutting review of the course's key problems in preparation for the examination.
Prerequisiti
Students are expected to have foundational knowledge of Roman Law and/or Roman Legal History (in particular: the sources of law, the constitutional structure of the Principate). At least a basic knowledge of Latin legal vocabulary is helpful, though not required; sources in the original languages (Latin and Greek) will always be accompanied by an Italian translation.Core Documentation
S. Galeotti, Tra vigilanza e repressione. La giurisdizione criminale del prefetto dell'Urbe da Augusto a Settimio Severo (OPVSCVLA NOVA), Napoli: ES, 2026 (open access).Attendance
Attendance is not mandatory. However, regular participation in the lessons is recommended, given the seminar-style nature of the course and its strong emphasis on direct reading of the sources. Students who do not attend are required to agree with the professor, during the semester, on the program of exam topics and any additional readings beyond the reference monograph.Type of evaluation
Learning is assessed through a final oral examination, designed to verify: ● knowledge of the course's historical-institutional content; ● the ability to read and comment on the legal and literary sources covered in class; ● the ability to argue critically on the discipline's key problems, with reference to the main scholarly positions. Attending students may opt, as a partial alternative to the oral examination, to prepare a short written paper (10-15 pages) on a source or monographic topic agreed with the professor, to be presented in seminar; the paper contributes to the final grade together with an oral examination on the remainder of the course content. For non-attending students, the oral examination covers the entire course content, without the option of substituting the written paper. Final grades are expressed on a 30-point scale (out of 30). 18–20: sufficient but minimal and non-in-depth knowledge of the subject. 21–25: fair / more than sufficient knowledge of the contents. 26–29: good / very good knowledge of the subject’s structures, with evidence of critical ability. 30–30 cum laude: excellent / outstanding knowledge of the subject, combined with excellent analytical, critical, and synthetic skills. Language of the oral exam: Italian. Students with disabilities or specific learning disorders (SLD), who intend to request the adaptation of the exam, must follow the instructions given in the following link: https://portalestudente.uniroma3.it/iscrizioni/dsa/