Julius Paulus ( el, Ἰούλιος Παῦλος; fl. 2nd century and 3rd century AD), often simply referred to as Paul in English, was one of the most influential and distinguished Roman jurists. He was also a praetorian prefect under the Roman Emperor Alexander Severus.

Life

Little is known of the life and family of Paulus; he was a man of Greek descent, who originated from an unknown

Phoenicia Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their his ...

n town or from Patavium (modern Padua

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

). The possibility that Paulus could come from Patavium is based on a statue with an inscription found in Patavium dedicated to a Paulus. During the reign of emperors

Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus (; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary succ ...

and Caracalla, Paulus served as a jurist. He was exiled by the emperor Elagabalus and recalled from exile by his successor, emperor Alexander Severus. Severus and his mother Julia Avita Mamaea in 222, appointed him among the emperor's chief advisers and between 228 and 235, he was the Praetorian prefect of the

Praetorian Guard The Praetorian Guard (Latin: ''cohortēs praetōriae'') was a unit of the Imperial Roman army that served as personal bodyguards and intelligence agents for the Roman emperors. During the Roman Republic, the Praetorian Guard were an escort f ...

. Paulus was a contemporary of the jurist Ulpian. He partly followed the career path of former Praetorian prefect

Aemilius Papinianus Aemilius Papinianus (; grc, Αἰμίλιος Παπινιανός; 142 CE–212 CE), simply rendered as Papinian () in English, was a celebrated Roman jurist, ''magister libellorum'', attorney general (''advocatus fisci'') and, after the dea ...

. In a

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princip ...

of the emperor Gordian III dating from 239 and referring to the marriage, where is cited a

response Response may refer to: *Call and response (music), musical structure *Reaction (disambiguation) *Request–response **Output (computing), Output or response, the result of telecommunications input *Response (liturgy), a line answering a versicle ...

of Paul, he is called ''vir prudentissimus Paulus'' ('' C.J.'' 5.4.6).

Paulus's legal works

The Roman jurist Herennius Modestinus describes Paulus, along with Ulpian and Quintus Cervidius Scaevola, as among "the last of the great jurists". Paulus’ work was held in high respect. He had written 319 various legal publications. His surviving works are extremely prolific, displaying a keen analysis of other opinions of jurists and Paulus expressed his legal views. He appears to have written on a great variety on legal subjects and had a thorough knowledge of legal subjects and law. Paulus comments on the jurists Javolenus Priscus, Quintus Cervidius Scaevola, Marcus Antistius Labeo, Salvius Julianus and

. He is cited by the jurists Macer and Herennius Modestinus. His writing style is condensed and sometimes obscure; however, his work is just as good as the other Roman jurists. Paulus’ work has survived from excerpts, although his work needs to be carefully read to be understood. Paulus was one of the five jurists whose opinions were made constitutionally authoritative in 426 by Roman Emperors Theodosius II and Valentinian III. Another legacy from Paulus is the inclusion of his writings in the ''

Digest Digest may refer to: Biology *Digestion of food *Restriction digest Literature and publications *''The Digest'', formerly the English and Empire Digest *Digest size magazine format * ''Digest'' (Roman law), also known as ''Pandects'', a digest ...

'' which was written and put together by

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...

Emperor

Justinian I Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...

. One sixth of the Corpus Juris Civilis in the ''Digest'' consists of Paulus’ work. He is the most excerpted Roman jurist in the ''Digest'', ahead of Ulpian. The ''Digest'' attributes to Paulus the first articulation of the presumption of innocence in Roman law: ''Ei incumbit probatio qui dicit, non qui negat''"Proof lies on him who asserts, not on him who denies". Paulus in the ''Digest'' is also referred in two passages, which he gave a contrary opinion to Alexander Severus, but Severus chose Papinianus‘ opinion.

Pseudo-Pauline works

Due to his fame several other works have been attributed to him, in particular the 3rd century compilation ''Pauli sententiae'' ("Paul's Views" or "Sentences"). From Paulus’ surviving works and works attributed to him, the ''Sententiae ad Filium'' have the longest fragments.

Economics

In the ''

'', Paulus wrote a passage on

money Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money ar ...

. Much as

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical Greece, Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatet ...

did, Paulus described the nature of money, including how it arises from the inconvenience of barter.Schumpeter, Joseph A. (1954). ''History of Economic Analysis''. Oxford University Press. — Part II (''From the Beginnings to The First Classical Situation (to About 1790)''), chapter 1 (''Graeco-Roman Economics''), section 7 (''The Contribution of the Romans''), page 70, footnote 6.

Notes

References

The Ancient LibraryThe Roman Law Library
by Yves Lassard and Alexandr Koptev.
Google book : ''Latin Literature A History'', Gian Biagio Conte

External links

ancientlibrary.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Paul 2nd-century Romans 3rd-century Romans 3rd-century writers Ancient Roman jurists Praetorian prefects Paulus Prudentissimus