Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.31141/zrpfs.2019.56.134.905
Arbitration in boundary dispute between Aseria and Alveria
Ivan Milotić
; Pravni fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
Three inscriptions found in Dalmatia record a boundary dispute between the tribal communities of Aseria and Alveria. These inscriptions record the relevant facts that were associated with that particular dispute and circumstances in which the dispute resolution was achieved. They refer to the legal institutes and typical legal expression that the Romans often employed in dispute resolution which was achieved outside courts and institutionalized legal proceedings. With regard to the content of the inscription, the author analyses the procedural institutes and preconditions that had to be fulfilled for the successful dispute resolution, for example, court and its constitution, selection of arbitrators, parties to the dispute, disputed subject-matter, taking the procedural actions and the decision by which the dispute was ended. On the grounds of previous epigraphic studies and archaeological contextualisation the boundary dispute between Aseria and Alveria is here appreciated from the legal point of view, with an emphasis to the identification of exact meaning of the legal terms that were employed and with reference to the relevant institutes of Roman law at the time being (early classical Roman law). The analysis is provided with regard to the peculiarity of the provincial administration in Dalmatia, especially to the position and imperium of the provincial governor at that time, as well as with reference to the boundary disputes that the other Dalmatian tribal communities had among themselves. The intention of the Romans becomes apparent to resolve such disputes and thereby to eliminate all the potential dangers and obstacles for the stabile provincial governance. The inscriptions reveal that the boundary dispute was decided in arbitration, though, not in a regular one, but rather in a proceeding which was not voluntary for the parties, because it was unilaterally imposed by the provincial governor himself. For this reason, that particular dispute resolution should be qualified as an administrative arbitration with evident mandatory characteristics.
Keywords
arbitration; boundary dispute; inscription on boundaries; Dalmatia; Roman law
Hrčak ID:
227832
URI
Publication date:
12.11.2019.
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