The fairness of Roman jurists : too visible to be seen ?

In the very first passage of Justinian's Digest, Ulpian describes jurists as priests of justice (iustitia), but it must be recognized that in reality they are more the adepts of equity (aequitas). The numbers don't lie: in their writings, the word iustitia is evoked only eight times, whileaequitas is at least ten times more. This lexical choice offers us a thread to follow in understanding the links between jurists and ancient culture. By way of comparison, if we take Cicero's corpus - which is highly varied in terms of genres - iustitia is polarized in his philosophical treatises, while aequitas is found essentially in his rhetorical treatises and judicial speeches. We can thus see that equity is a rhetorical word. This allows us to attempt a comparative reading. The lecture analyzes the meaning attributed to aequitas by jurists in the light of the definition (or rather deconstruction) to which Cicero subjected it in the context of rhetorical theory, particularly in De inventione. In the light of Ciceronian thought, we can better understand what jurists understood by aequitas when they used it in the elaboration of law. Far from being a hollow word, as is sometimes believed, it is a powerful notion that thus takes shape and becomes visible: a decision-making criterion embedded in a precise vision of social ties.