Definition
A rescriptum (plural: rescripta) was a formal written response issued by a Roman emperor in answer to a petition, inquiry, or application submitted by a private party, magistrate, or official body. The rescriptum constituted a species of imperial constitution — that is, a binding legal pronouncement carrying the force of law — distinguished from other imperial enactments by its reactive, responsive character. Rather than originating as a proactive legislative act, the rescriptum arose from a specific question put to the emperor, and the emperor's written reply settled the legal question presented.
The rescriptum operated in two principal forms: the subscriptio, in which the emperor's answer was written directly beneath the original petition and returned to the petitioner, and the epistola, in which the answer took the form of a separate letter addressed to the official or individual who had submitted the inquiry. Burrill notes that the rescriptum was "otherwise called a letter or epistle (epistola)," reflecting this dual form in practice.
Although the rescriptum responded to a particular factual situation, its legal reasoning and rulings acquired general authority within Roman jurisprudence. Jurists collected and analyzed rescripta, and they were eventually incorporated into the systematic compilations of Roman law, most significantly the Corpus Juris Civilis.
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Recognized Forms
/SUBTYPES
1. Subscriptio — The emperor's reply written beneath the original petition, returned to the petitioner directly.
2. Epistola — The reply issued as a separate letter, typically addressed to a judge, magistrate, or provincial governor who had posed the legal question.
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Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encountering rescriptum in historical legal sources are almost always working in the context of Roman civil law or its reception into later European legal systems. The term does not carry forward into common law tradition in any operative sense; its appearance in common law dictionaries like Black's reflects the influence of Roman law on early legal education and treatise writing, not active use in Anglo-American courts.
The key research trap is conflating rescriptum with the English term "rescript," which has both a Roman law meaning (a direct translation of rescriptum) and a later ecclesiastical and civil law meaning referring to papal or canonical responses. Researchers working in canon law or ecclesiastical sources must be alert to this overlap, as papal rescripta borrowed the Roman model but operated within a distinct institutional framework.
Within corpus sources treating Roman law, rescripta appear prominently in discussions of imperial constitutions alongside edicta (general proclamations), mandata (administrative instructions to officials), and decreta (judicial decisions in contested cases). Understanding where rescripta fall within this taxonomy is essential for correctly interpreting passages in civilian treatises and commentaries.
Burrill's reference to the Digest (Dig. 37.14.17) and Justinian's Institutes (Inst. 1.2.6) as sources for the term and examples of its form is genuinely useful for researchers who need to trace a concept back to its primary Roman law context.
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Historical Dictionary Support
Black's (1st and 2nd editions) offer identical, minimal entries: a rescriptum is "a species of imperial constitution, in the form of an answer to some application or petition," citing Calvin's Lexicon Juridicum. Both editions treat the term as sufficiently explained by the single sentence, reflecting its status as a technical term of civil law scholarship rather than active Anglo-American legal practice.
Burrill adds meaningful depth. He provides the derivation from rescribere (to write back), notes the dual terminology of rescriptum and epistola, and supplies primary source references to Heineccius's Elementa Juris Civilis and the Digest and Institutes of Justinian. This makes Burrill the more useful starting point for research into the term's civil law context.
None of the three dictionaries distinguish between subscriptio and epistola as subtypes, nor do they address the broader taxonomy of imperial constitutions in which rescripta sit. For that framework, researchers must move to treatise sources such as Heineccius or Justinian's institutional texts directly.
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Jurisdictional Note
Rescriptum is a term of Roman civil law with no direct operative role in common law jurisdictions. It retains significance in civilian legal systems, comparative law scholarship, and canon law, where the institutional structure of authoritative responses to petitions has historical roots in the Roman model.
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