Definition
In Roman and civil law, epistolae (singular: epistola) were written legal opinions or rescripts—authoritative written responses issued by Roman emperors to legal questions, petitions, or disputes submitted to them for resolution. The term also extended to written opinions issued by prominent jurists (jurisconsulti), such as Ulpian, in response to legal questions posed to them. In its broadest civil law usage, epistolae encompassed any authoritative written legal opinion delivered in letter form.
Two primary uses are recognized:
1. Imperial rescripts: Written answers from the Roman emperor to petitions brought by private parties or officials seeking guidance on legal matters. These carried binding authority as expressions of imperial will.
2. Juristic opinions: Written responses from recognized legal scholars to questions of law, functioning as persuasive or, in some periods, binding authority within the Roman legal system.
Common Confusion
The term epistola originally carried the same meaning as literae—simply "letter" in the general sense. In legal usage, however, epistolae acquired a specialized technical character denoting official or authoritative written legal responses, distinguishing them from ordinary correspondence. Researchers encountering the term in civil law sources should not assume informal communication; the legal usage implies structured, authoritative opinion.
Why It Matters in Research
Epistolae appear primarily in sources dealing with Roman law and its reception into continental civil law systems. Researchers working in canon law, early modern civil law commentaries, or comparative legal history may encounter the term in discussions of how law was declared and transmitted in the Roman imperial period.
Several navigational points deserve attention:
First, the term belongs to a cluster of overlapping Roman law concepts—rescripts, mandates, decreta, and constitutiones—that all describe different modes of imperial legal pronouncement. Epistolae specifically refers to the response-to-petition form, distinguishing them from edicts (general prospective rules) or decreta (decisions in contested cases). Conflating these categories in historical research leads to mischaracterization of a source's authority and procedural context.
Second, juristic epistolae from figures like Ulpian or Papinian operated within the Roman citation law framework. The Law of Citations (426 CE) gave formal binding weight to the opinions of designated jurists. When civil law commentators from the medieval or early modern period cite epistolae of a jurist, they may be invoking this formal authority structure, not merely scholarly persuasion.
Third, the term is largely absent from common law sources. Researchers working primarily in English legal materials will encounter it only in comparative passages, civil law treatises, or ecclesiastical law contexts. Its appearance in a source is itself a signal that the author is drawing on the civil law tradition.
Fourth, Black's 2nd edition is the sole dictionary source here, and its entry is brief. Researchers requiring deeper treatment should consult Justinian's Corpus Juris Civilis directly, particularly the Digest and the Codex, where imperial rescripts are collected and discussed extensively.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) provides the foundational entry, drawing on Vicat's legal dictionary for the proposition that epistola originally signified the same as literae. Black's correctly identifies the dual application—imperial rescripts and juristic opinions—and notes that these were written, not oral, responses. The entry is concise and accurate as far as it goes but does not distinguish between the varying levels of authority attached to imperial versus juristic epistolae, nor does it situate the term within the broader taxonomy of Roman imperial constitutions. No other shelf sources in the present corpus provide entries for this term. The absence of coverage in later legal dictionaries reflects the term's status as a historical civil law term with no surviving operational use in modern Anglo-American practice.
Jurisdictional Note
Epistolae as a legal concept belongs to Roman and civil law systems. The term has no operative meaning in modern common law jurisdictions. It retains relevance in jurisdictions with strong civil law roots—particularly in academic and historical contexts—and in canon law scholarship, where Roman law categories were preserved and adapted.