Edictum perpetuum

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In Roman law, the edictum perpetuum was an annual declaration made by the praetor urbanus in which he laid out the principles by which he would exercise his jurisdiction for his year in office. During the middle Republic, Roman civil law began to depend increasingly on formulary procedure in which a praetor would define the legal the issue in a case and then assign the case to a iudex together with a prescriptive formula instructing what remedy would be appropriate on what findings of fact. In time, sample formulae became listed in his edict. Thus, according to the jurist Papinian (Dig. 1.1.7.1), the edict came to supplement, explain, and improve the ius civile. It thus became an important vehicle for the evolution of Roman civil law. In 67 BC, a lex Cornelia was passed that required the urban praetor to abide by his own edict. Under the emperor Hadrian, the edict became fixed and unchangeable.

The edictum perpetuum was mostly made up of trial formulas. It also regulated procedural matters such as the initiation of legal proceedings.

[edit] Bibliography

• O. Lenel, Das Edictum perpetuum. Ein Versuch zu seiner Wiederherstellung. 3rd ed. (Leipzig 1927; reprint, Aalen 1956, 1974).
• A.H.J. Greenidge, The Legal Procedure of Cicero's Time. (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1901. Reprint, 2000. ISBN 1886363994)