La lex rivi hiberiensis: domande allo storico del processo romano

The Bronze of Agón looks particularly interesting for the historian of Roman law. The present essay aims at illustrating the highly important novel elements offered by this document for a new understanding and advance of our knowledge about Roman processual history. Pars. 10-14 of the epigraphic text describe the processual tools (vadimonium, iusiurandum and formula) established in the lex paganica and ratified by the Roman autorithy to protect the complex organization and management of the water supply network stemming from the rivus Hiberiensis Capitonianus. These new elements not only enrich our previous knowledge through clear-cut textual references, which were lacking so far, but they are also even more important in relation to the site and time they belong to: a provincia Caesaris under Adrianus imperator. According to the communis opinio, the formulae did not extend to a provincia Caesaris, but this statement is clearly contradicted by the lex rivi Hiberiensis. Based on these data, the application of both the formulae and trial seem much more extensive than previously thought; in addition to this new model supplies are thinking of all the links existing between the formular process and the cognitio extra ordinem.