Rights in Roman Republican thought

Book section

The notion of right(s) is ubiquitous in Roman Republican writings and its meaning often ambiguous and varied; it includes the idea of justice, normative rules, as well as a wider legal order. Following the work of Michel Villey, who argued that the Romans did not have a concept of subjective rights, as this would have required associating the ideas of right and power, historians of political thought and philosophers of law have all agreed that the Romans did not have much (or anything) to contribute to the idea of subjective rights and focused on identifying its first developments in subsequent periods, ranging from the twelfth century down to the late medieval period.

Authors: Arena, V

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Host title: The Cambridge History of Rights. Volume 1: The Ancient World
• Pages: 202-236
• Chapter number: 8
• Series: The Cambridge History of Rights
• Series number: 1
• Place of publication: Cambridge
• Publication date: 2026-01-31
• Acceptance date: 2025-01-27
• Edition: 1
• DOI: 10.1017/9781108938938.009
• EISBN: 9781108938938
• ISBN: 9781108837354
• Language: English
• Keywords: Roman Republic; subjective rights; ius; paterfamilias; dominium; personhood; self-ownership; plebs; provocatio; liberty; virtus