The Laws of the Kings – A View from a Distance

Abstract

Given the huge problem of the reliability of the sources, this chapter tries to give an account of the emergence of Roman legislation which almost does away with both texts and reference to the historical narrative. It focuses on the sort of law which a settlement of Rome’s size and complexity would have needed. It therefore looks at both the archaeological evidence, and the anthropological accounts of co-operation and early lawmaking, especially in regard to markets and the emergence of religious systems. It concludes that Rome almost certainly did have laws and regulations, that these may have involved the kings, but that the legal texts give us only an oblique understanding.