A legal-historical contribution to the research of the office of praetor in Byzantium

Abstract

The office of praetor in Byzantium represents a vestige of antiquity revived in the middle years of the reign of Justinian I. The paper offers a history of the function following the chronological timeline, as well as an analysis of the praetor’s competences in the judicial and administrative spheres. Firstly, relying on the few available sources up to the 10th century, it brings an overview of the praetor’s competences. In the 10th century, the praetor became a thematic judge, the supreme civil officer in the province, outranking the strategos, which is how most sources portray the praetor in the 11th and 12th centuries. The paper examines the praetor’s service in law and juxtaposes it with his authority as the supreme figure in the province. Simultaneously, in the 11th century, the praetor was part of the capital’s judiciary system, with a possible scope of duties in private law. The last known sources describe the praetor as the court’s official in contacts with the Latins.

Keywords

• praetor
• judge
• judiciary
• administrative system
• private law
• inheritance law