Editing Diocletian (section)

===Legal===
[[File:Digesto 02.jpg|thumb|upright|A 1581 reprint of the ''Digestorum'' from [[Justinian I|Justinian]]'s ''[[Corpus Juris Civilis]]'' (527–534). The ''Corpus'' drew on the codices of [[Codex Gregorianus|Gregorius]] and [[Codex Hermogenianus|Hermogenian]], drafted and published under Diocletian's reign.]]
As with most emperors, much of Diocletian's daily routine rotated around legal affairs&nbsp;– responding to appeals and petitions, and delivering decisions on disputed matters. Rescripts, authoritative interpretations issued by the emperor in response to demands from disputants in both public and private cases, were a common duty of second- and third-century emperors. In the "nomadic" imperial courts of the later Empire, one can track the progress of the imperial retinue through the locations from whence particular rescripts were issued&nbsp;– the presence of the Emperor was what allowed the system to function.<ref>{{cite book|first=Serena |last=Connolly |year=2010 |title=Lives behind the Laws: The World of the Codex Hermogenianus |location=Bloomington |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-35401-3 |page=61}}</ref> Whenever the imperial court would settle in one of the capitals, there was a glut in petitions, as in late 294 in Nicomedia, where Diocletian kept winter quarters.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Radner |editor-first=Karen |year=2014 |title=State Correspondence in the Ancient World: From New Kingdom Egypt to the Roman Empire |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-935477-1 |page=181}}</ref>

Admittedly, Diocletian's praetorian prefects&nbsp;– Afranius Hannibalianus, Julius Asclepiodotus, and [[Aurelius Hermogenianus]]&nbsp;– aided in regulating the flow and presentation of such paperwork, but the deep legalism of Roman culture kept the workload heavy.{{sfn|Williams|1985|pp=53–54, 142–143}} Emperors in the forty years preceding Diocletian's reign had not managed these duties so effectively, and their output in attested rescripts is low. Diocletian, by contrast, was prodigious in his affairs: there are around 1,200 rescripts in his name still surviving, and these probably represent only a small portion of the total issue.{{sfnm|1a1=CAH|1p=201|2a1=Williams|2y=1985|2p=143}} The sharp increase in the number of edicts and rescripts produced under Diocletian's rule has been read as evidence of an ongoing effort to realign the whole Empire on terms dictated by the imperial center.{{sfn|Potter|2005|pp=296, 652}}

Under the governance of the [[jurist]]s Gregorius, Aurelius Arcadius Charisius, and Hermogenianus, the imperial government began issuing official books of [[precedent]], collecting and listing all the rescripts that had been issued since the reign of [[Hadrian]] (r. 117–138).{{sfnm|1a1=Harries|1y=1999|1pp=14–15|2a1=Potter|2y=2005|2pp=295–296}} The [[Codex Gregorianus]] includes rescripts up to 292, which the [[Codex Hermogenianus]] updated with a comprehensive collection of rescripts issued by Diocletian in 293 and 294.{{sfn|Barnes|1981|p=10}} Although the very act of codification was a radical innovation, given the precedent-based design of the Roman legal system,{{sfn|Potter|2005|pp=295–296}} the jurists were generally conservative, and constantly looked to past Roman practice and theory for guidance.{{sfnm|1a1=Harries|1y=1999|1pp=21, 29–30|2a1=Potter|2y=2005|2pp=295–296}} They were probably given more free rein over their codes than the later compilers of the ''[[Codex Theodosianus]]'' (438) and ''[[Codex Justinianus]]'' (529) would have. Gregorius and Hermogenianus's codices lack the rigid structuring of later codes,{{sfn|Harries|1999|pp=21–22}} and were not published in the name of the emperor, but in the names of their compilers.{{sfn|Harries|1999|pp=63–64}} Their official character was clear in that both collections were acknowledged by courts as authoritative records of imperial legislation up to the date of their publication and regularly updated.<ref>{{cite book|first=George |last=Mousourakis |year=2012 |title=Fundamentals of Roman Private Law |location=Berlin |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-642-29310-8 |page=64}}</ref>

After Diocletian's reform of the provinces, governors were called ''iudex'', or [[judge]]. The governor became responsible for his decisions first to his immediate superiors, as well as to the more distant office of the emperor.{{sfn|Harries|1999|p=162}} It was most likely at this time that judicial records became verbatim accounts of what was said in trial, making it easier to determine bias or improper conduct on the part of the governor. With these records and the Empire's universal right of [[appeal]], Imperial authorities probably had a great deal of power to enforce behavior standards for their judges.{{sfn|Harries|1999|p=167}} In spite of Diocletian's attempts at reform, the provincial restructuring was far from clear, especially when citizens appealed the decisions of their governors. Proconsuls, for example, were often both judges of first instance and appeal, and the governors of some provinces took appellant cases from their neighbors. It soon became impossible to avoid taking some cases to the emperor for arbitration and judgment.{{sfn|Harries|1999|p=55}} Diocletian's reign marks the end of the classical period of Roman law. Where Diocletian's system of rescripts shows adherence to classical tradition, Constantine's law is full of Greek and eastern influences.{{sfn|CAH|p=207}}

Partly in response to economic pressures and in order to protect the vital functions of the state, Diocletian restricted social and professional mobility. Peasants became tied to the land in a way that presaged later systems of land tenure and workers such as bakers, armorers, public entertainers and workers in the mint had their occupations made hereditary.<ref>{{cite book|first=Richard |last=Lim |year=2010 |chapter=Late Antiquity |title=The Edinburgh Companion to Ancient Greece and Rome |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |location=Edinburgh |page=115}}</ref> Soldiers' children were also forcibly enrolled, something that followed spontaneous tendencies among the rank-and-file, but also expressed increasing difficulties in recruitment.{{sfn|Christol|Nony|2003|p=241}}