Tra poesia e diritto: lettura dell’espressione inicere manum nel corpus ovidiano

Abstract

The essay aims to examine all the occurrences of the expression inicere manum in the Ovidian corpus to determine whether it should be understood as referring to either a legis actio per manus iniectionem as registered in Gaius or to a legis actio sacramenti in rem. The analysis suggests that while Ovid sometimes employs this expression as a mere literary metaphor, it is probable that when he refers to the legal concept, he has in mind the legis actio sacramenti in rem. The interpretation of this phenomenon is not attributable to Ovid’s incapacity to use relevant technical terminology, but rather to the possibility that during his era, inicere manum may have also denoted a vindicatio.

Keywords : Ovid; inicere manum; legis actio sacramenti in rem.