Právněhistorické studie / Legal History Studies (Charles University journal; below referred to as PHS or Journal) is a scientific journal listed in the international prestigious database SCOPUS. The journal is published by Charles University in Prague under the guarantee of the Department of Legal History of the Faculty of Law of Charles University. It is published by the Karolinum Press. The journal focuses on the field of legal history and related topics.
Issue 1 of the Journal was published by the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences Publishing in June 1955. The Journal was initially published by the Cabinet of Legal History of the Czechoslovak Academy of Science (CSAV), later by the Institute of State and Law (CSAV) and then by the Institute of Legal History of the Faculty of Law of Charles University.
PHS is issued three times a year in April, August, and December and it presents original scientific works/papers as well as reviews, annotations and news from the scientific field of legal history. It also introduces annotated texts of a legal history nature. PHS accepts manuscripts from domestic as well as foreign authors. Manuscripts submitted by foreign authors are published in original language, namely in English, Slovak, German, French, Italian or Polish.
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PRÁVNĚHISTORICKÉ STUDIE, Vol 54 No 1 (2024), 9–18
Mulier accusatrix in the Laudatio Turiae
Maciej Jońca
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14712/2464689X.2024.2
published online: 29. 04. 2024
abstract
Legal sources relating to the imperial period (especially Justinian’s Digesta) show that Roman criminal law allowed women to bring criminal charges only in exceptional situations. On the other hand, to prosecute the murderer of a relative was considered a sacred duty for the members of the victim’s family. Any negligence in this area was perceived as wicked behaviour and detrimental to the memory of the deceased. The obligation to bring a criminal charge, symbolically identified with vengeance (ultio, vindicta), rested with men. The surviving funeral eulogy known as the Laudatio Turiae shows a very different pattern. Its content shows that at the end of the first century BC, it was a woman who accused the murderers of her parents in court and brought about their conviction. The oration makes it possible to initiate an interesting discussion on the real importance of women’s voice in the criminal process and on the social stereotypes that limited their participation in public procedures.
keywords: Roman law; Laudatio Turiae; roman criminal trial; vengeance; Roman women
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