Research Catalog

Title

Petitions, litigation, and social control in Roman Egypt / Benjamin Kelly.

Author

Kelly, Benjamin.

Publication

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2011.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xvii, 427 p. : ill., maps; 23 cm.

Summary

"This book examines the contribution that petitioning and litigation made to the maintenance of the social order in Roman Egypt between 30 BC and AD 284. Through the analysis of the many hundreds of documents surviving on papyrus, especially petitions, reports of court proceedings, and letters, Kelly focuses on how the legal system achieved its formal goals (that is, the resolution of disputes through judgments), and discusses in detail the contribution made by the litigation process to informal methods of social control. With particular emphasis on the roles that this process played in the transmission of political ideologies, in the maintenance of family solidarity, and in the fostering of 'private' mechanisms of dispute resolution, the book argues that although the legal system was less than successful when judged by its formal aims, it did have a real social impact by contributing indirectly to some of the informal mechanisms that ensured order in this province of the Roman Empire."--Jacket.

Series Statement

Oxford studies in ancient documents

Uniform Title

Oxford studies in ancient documents.

Subjects

• Social control > Egypt > History > To 1500
• Egypt > Social life and customs > To 332 B.C
• Criminal law > Egypt > History
• Arsinoite Nome (Egypt)
• Justice, Administration of (Roman law)
• Egyptian law
• Actions and defenses (Roman law)

Note

• Note 23 on page 252 refers to a Brooklyn papyrus.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [381]-404) and indexes.

Contents

Introduction -- Petitions and social history -- Legal control in Roman Egypt -- Who used the justice system? -- Political ideologies in the legal realm -- Hierarchy and group solidarity -- Private dispute resolution and the shadow of the law -- Vexatious and vexing litigation -- Conclusions.

Call Number

JFE 13-3703

ISBN

• 9780199599615 (cloth : alk. paper)
• 0199599610 (cloth : alk. paper)

LCCN

2011294209

OCLC

767866440

Author

Kelly, Benjamin.

Title

Petitions, litigation, and social control in Roman Egypt / Benjamin Kelly.

Imprint

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2011.

Series

Oxford studies in ancient documents

Oxford studies in ancient documents.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (p. [381]-404) and indexes.

Research Call Number

JFE 13-3703