Interventions of the interpretatio iuris to the resolving of the ambiguities of law during the byzantine period

Abstract

Starting from a concise depiction of the main influences of the rhetorical
theory of volition in the promotion of interpretatio iuris during the Roman and early
Byzantine periods, the study focuses in the investigation of elements of rhetorical
“legal attitudes” in the texts of a legal work of the twelfth century, the Ecloga
Librorum I-X Basilicorum. The legal structure of the proportional application of
a customary rule to a concrete case of litigation and the invocation of evaluation
concepts, like “logismos” (reasoning), in the unfolding of legal argumentation as well
as in the formulation of the legal judgement, exhibit the exceptional nature of legal
reasoning as a reasoning occasionally summoned to exceed the rules of rhetoric art.