This paper revises current understandings of judicial edicts in ancient Rome—the annually published texts in which Roman magistrates set out the formulae according to which they would institute trials during their year in office. While standard accounts see these edicts as the work of legal specialists, heretofore neglected sources for how contemporaries talked about these texts suggest that they were indeed the work of the magistrates that issued them. At times these magistrates formulated new provisions; for the most part they selectively drew on past edicts, not least to accommodate the demands of their friends and clients. These patterns in compositional practice can only be understood within the framework of Roman political culture. More importantly, in their annually changing published form judicial edicts emerge as crucial objects in the construction of time in ancient Rome. Arguably, they constituted a legal practice that could encompass revolution—at least for a year.

本文修订了目前对古罗马司法法令的理解——每年出版的文本，其中罗马地方法官制定了他们在任期间进行审判的公式。虽然标准记载将这些法令视为法律专家的作品，但迄今为止被忽视的同时代人如何谈论这些文本的资料表明，它们确实是发布这些法令的地方法官的作品。有时，这些地方法官会制定新的规定；在很大程度上，他们选择性地借鉴了过去的法令，尤其是为了满足朋友和客户的要求。这些作曲实践模式只能在罗马政治文化的框架内才能理解。更重要的是，司法法令以其每年变化的出版形式成为古罗马时间建构的关键对象。可以说，它们构成了一种可以包含革命的法律实践——至少持续一年。