Ward Strengers

Ward Strengers (Münster)

Titel der Dissertation:

Fiscal security rights in classical Roman law

Kurzbeschreibung:

Starting at the end of the first century AD, the Roman imperial bureaucracy greatly expanded. At the same time, the fiscus, the Roman imperial treasury, began to exert more influence on Roman law and society. As tax levying professionalized, the fiscus had to manifest its position, especially in relation to private creditors. In this respect, one particular interesting phenomenon emerging in legal documents is the fiscal general pledge on all the assets of the fiscal debtor.

This thesis aims to set out the legal framework of debt security that the fiscus had at its disposal. In the Corpus Iuris Civilis, we come across several cases where the treasury finds itself competing with (other) private creditors. Seemingly evolving from an expressly agreed upon right to an implied pledge, the varying ranking and treatment of the fiscal claim in relation to other private creditors has inspired a lively academic debate. Mainly, this thesis will examine the origins, scope, evolving nature, third-party effects and execution of the fiscal pledge.

Furthermore, the imperial treasury and its legal instruments will be placed into context of Roman society and economy. When discussing the reciprocal influence of law and society, this thesis will also address competing theories concerning the origin of the fiscal claim, notably the Roman-Egyptian πρωτοπραξία. The thesis hopes to provide a deeper insight into the workings of the fiscal pledge, draw some conclusions on the place of the fiscal pledge in Roman debt security law, as well as prompt some reflections on the desired legal and societal place of a treasury in general.