‘‘Senatorial’’ Provinces Law,’’ but a work of scholarly interpretation which allowed a lot of room
for personal theorizing, sometimes of an antiquarian character, and forex
post facto excogitation of general principles designed to explain existing,
orindeednolongerexisting,practices.HenceGaius,aloneofallthejurists
knowntous,goesontodevelopaquiteeccentrictheoryabouttheowner-
shipofprovincialland,basedonthedivisionoftheprovincesintotwotypes.
Wecan,hesays,causeaplace(locus)tobecomesacred(religiosus)byinterring
a corpse there, but not, however, if the area concerned is provincial: ‘‘But
somepeopleclaimthatonprovincialgroundaplacecannotbecomesacred
[i.e. in this way] since the full ownership [dominium] of such land belongs
totheRomanpeopleortoCaesar;we,ontheotherhand,canonlyacquire
possession or usufruct there’’ (, –). He does indeed seem to mean that
onthistheoryfullownership(dominium)dependedonwhethertheprovince
concernedwasCaesar’sorthepeople’s.Foralittlelaterheproducesanother
distinctionwhichisuniquetohimself:‘‘Tothiscategorybelongprovincial
lands,ofwhichsomearecalledstipendiariaandotherstributaria.Stipendiariaare
thoselocatedintheseprovinceswhichbelongtotheRomanpeople;tributaria
arethoselocatedinthoseprovinceswhicharebelievedtobelongtoCaesar’’
(,).
Itisnotnecessaryheretodiscusswhethertherecouldbeanyjustification
forGaius’distinctionbetweenpraedia stipendiariaandpraedia tributaria,orto
dwellontheexpressionsfoundquitefrequentlyinthewritingsoftheclassi-
caljurists,whichreflecttheirperceptionofRomanlawasbeingbasedstillon
thesovereigntyoftheRomanpeople.^6 Enoughhasbeensaidtodemonstrate
the fragilityof any supposed textual justification for the expression ‘‘sena-
torialprovince,’’atermwhichretainsanestablishedplaceeveninthestan-
dardmodernworkontheSenateoftheimperialperiod.^7 Thefactthatthis
pseudo-technical expression conveys presuppositions about administrative
practicewhichourevidencedoesnotsupportisreasonenoughforsuggest-
ingthatweshouldceasetouseit.Buttherearefarmoresignificantreasons
thanthat.Forifwewereinsteadtospeak,asoursourcesdo,ofthepublic
provincesortheprovincesoftheRomanpeople,wewouldtherebyremind
ourselves that the inherited framework to which Augustus adjusted him-
. See,forinstance,Gaius,Inst.,:‘‘ItisnotallowedeithertoRomancitizensorto
otherswhoareundertheimperiumoftheRomanpeople...’’;,:‘‘thepublicrevenues
oftheRomanpeople’’;Dig.,,(Celsus):‘‘TheshoresoverwhichtheRomanpeoplehas
imperiumIconsidertobelongtotheRomanpeople’’;,,(Ulpian):‘‘Enemiesarethose
onwhomtheRomanpeoplehaspubliclydeclaredwar,orwhohavethemselves[declared
war]ontheRomanpeople.’’
. R.J.A.Talbert,The Senate of Imperial Rome(),–.