Salvius Julianus

Salvius Julianus, Statue, Palazzo di Giustizia, Rome, Italy

Lucius Octavius Cornelius Publius Salvius Iulianus Aemilianus (c. 110 – c. 170), generally referred to as Salvius Julianus, or Julian the Jurist, or simply Julianus, was a well known and respected jurist, public official, and politician who served in the Roman imperial state. Of north African origin, he was active during the long reigns of the emperors Hadrian (r. 117–138), Antoninus Pius (r. 138–161), and Marcus Aurelius (r. 161–180), as well as the shorter reign of Marcus Aurelius' first co-Emperor, Lucius Verus (r. 161–169).

In the Roman government, Julianus gradually rose in rank through a traditional series of offices. He was successively quaestor to the Emperor Hadrian (with double the usual salary), plebeian tribune, praetor, praefectus aerarii Saturni, and praefectus aerarii militaris, before assuming the high annual office of Roman consul in 148.[1] Julianus also served in the emperor's inner circle, the consilium principis, which functioned something like a modern cabinet, directing new legislation, but also sometimes like a court of law. "Hadrian organized it as a permanent council composed of members (jurists, high imperial functionaries of equestrian rank, and senators) appointed for life (consiliarii)."[2] In the 4th-century Historia Augusta,[3] the Emperor Hadrian's consilium principis included Julianus.

Though Julianus for decades served several emperors in succession, at high levels of the Roman imperial government, to investigate the details of his jurisprudence his written works on law are the primary sources. "The task of his life consisted, in the first place, in the final consolidation of the edictal law; and, secondly, in the composition of his great Digest in ninety books."[4]

  1. ^ H. F. Jolowicz and Barry Nicholas, Historical Introduction to the Study of Roman Law (Cambridge University 1932 by Jolowicz; 3d ed. 1972 by Nicholas) at 384–385.
  2. ^ Adolph Berger, Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society 1953), "Consilium principis" at 408.
  3. ^ The Historia Augusta purports to be a 3rd-century collection of biographies on Roman emperors written by six different authors. Scholarly consensus now accepts Hermann Dessau's 1889 theory that it is a late 4th-century work by one author. Anthony Birley, "Introduction" 7–22, at 7–8, to the Lives of the later Caesars (Penguin 1976), a partial translation of the Historia August. Thus it was probably the fictitious "Aelius Spartianus" who purportedly wrote, e.g., the Vita Hadriani (at 57–87), and other biographies contained therein.
  4. ^ Rudolph Sohm, Institutionen. Ein Lehrbuch der Geschichte und System des römischen Privatrechts (Leipzig: Duncker und Humblot 1883, 12th ed. 1905), translated as The Institutes. A textbook of the History and System of Roman Private Law (London: Oxford University, Clarendon Press, 3d ed. 1907; reprint: Augustus Kelly 1970) at 97–98.