RUDN Journal of World History (Dec 2015)
THE EMPEROR AUGUSTUS: STATESMAN AND JURIST
Abstract
The agrarian question reflected the condition of Roman economic and social structure. It was the most complicated and urgent question at the end of the republican period. Augustus solved it through giving of land lots to the veterans of the Civil Wars, putting them in the colonies all over the Mediterranean. For the optimal solving this problem he used all the achievements of Roman science and technology. Land division for veterans was made by limites in the system of centuriatio . It guaranteed exact calculation of the areas for their transfer into the ownership and practically separated dominium from land possessio . Augustus gave a legal status to every action of land surveying. Limites and centuriae became the legal basis for dominium . However, the ancient principles of law, designating agerpublicus , were saved in the centuriatio . This made possible a visual demonstration of possessory rights on a par with proprietary rights. Thereby Augustus settled correlation of possessory and proprietary rights, laying the foundation for the Roman land cadaster.
