Colonists (semi-free people) and land lease in Ancient Rome

Abstract

The present paper analyzes the legal situation of the colonists - semi-free people, land cultivators, in the period of ancient Rome, as well as the particularities that the land lease has experienced in relation to the colonist, in the same period of antiquity. We have had as starting point the status of the colonist within the framework of the Roman society along with a brief characterization of them in order to properly understand the reasons for establishing a particular type of relation with the lands and the corresponding owners of them. Hereinafter, we have considered the sources of the lease agreement as well as the outcome/impact of the contract, in particular the rights and obligations of the settlers.

The topic that might be labelled as out of interest has been intended to create a general overview in respect of the people and their relationship with the lands in general with focus on the period of ancient Rome. At the same time, the analysis has been directed towards an in-depth study as regards the legal relationship on which the lease contract was based, starting from the perspective of the great professor Vladimir Hanga, who expressed the idea according to which ”every legislation is related to the society from which it comes and on which it depends”.

The research method in point of the of the text has been the observation and analysis of documents, the exact identification of the tackled concepts in respect of time and space, but also for an accurate understanding of the legal situation of the colonists - semi-free people who worked the land during ancient Rome.