Kehoe D.P. Law and the Rural Economy in the Roman Empire

Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2007. – 280 p.
ISBN13: 978-0-472-11582-2 (cloth: alk. paper)
ISBN10: 0-472-11582-0 (cloth: alk. paper)The economy of the Roman Empire was predominantly agrarian: Roman landowners, agricultural laborers, and small tenant farmers were highly dependent upon one another for assuring stability. By examining the property rights established by the Roman government, in particular the laws concerning land tenure and the contractual relationships between wealthy landowners and the tenant farmers to whom they leased their land, Dennis P. Kehoe is able to demonstrate how the state fostered economic development and who benefited the most. In this bold application of economic theory, Kehoe explores the relationship between Roman private law and the development of the Roman economy during a crucial period of the Roman Empire, from the second to the fourth century C.E. Kehoe is able to use the laws concerning land tenure, and the Roman governmentʼs enforcement of those laws, as a window through which to develop a more comprehensive view of the Roman economy. With its innovative application of the methodologies of law and economics and the New Institutional Economics Law and the Rural Economy in the Roman Empire is a groundbreaking addition to the study of the Roman economy.Introduction. Legal Institutions and the Roman Economy
The New Institutional Economics and Roman Legal Policy
The Creation of Rights in the Countryside
Roman Legal Policy and Private Farm Tenancy
Legal Order in the Rural Economy
Late Antique Tax Policy and Incentives for InvestmentGeneral Index
Index of Ancient Sources