Norms of Dependency in Late Antique and Early Medieval Societies : Contextualising Roman Legal Terminology

Abstract

Late antique and early medieval normative sources frequently employ Roman legal terminology to denote a person’s legal inferiority, and thus suggest the continued relevance of the concepts associated with these terms. However, the extent to which identical terminology actually indicates similar social phenomena is far from clear. The papers in this volume try to uncover contemporary forms of dependency behind Roman terms and institutions.