Causa Curiana: the interpretation of the contractual will in ancient Rome

Abstract

In 93 BC, a trial about succession took place in Rome before the court of iudicium centumvirale which later became rather famous. Plaintiff and defendant came from the Roman elite: a certain Marcus Coponius brought the action against Manius Curius. But it was not only the person of the litigants, but also the names, authority and reputation of the advocates representing the two parties before the court that attracted the crowd. Q. Mucius Scaevola represented the palintiff, while L. Licinius Crassus defended M. Curius. In the history of European private law, this trial serves as the basis for the interpretation of the will in legal transactions: the verba-voluntas dispute can be dated from here.