- Otto Lenel (1849-1935) is best known for his reconstruction of the fundamental text of the Roman legal system, the so-called edictum perpetuum of the Roman praetors. The praetors were the government officials responsible for the administration of justice during the Roman republic and the principate (509 BC - 284 AD). The edictum (or edict) was the text in which the newly elected praetor announced how he would handle his responsibilities. More precisely, the edict announced, under what circumstances it would succeed and when it would fail. Originally, every praetor drafted his own edict, but over time, a standard text was established, which was regularly re-enacted by the new praetor. Even later, Emperor Hadrian (117-136 AD) commissioned a final redaction of the text and prohibited any further changes. The edict had thus changed its nature from being an announcement by the praetor himself to being a legal rule binding on the praetor himself, which made known to all citizens under what circumstances they could bring a successful action in the Roman courts. This final text is called the edictum perpetuum (the eternal edict). Lenel reconstructed both the text of the edict and tried to establish the order in which the surviving fragments of legal writings had originally been presented before they were cut out and rearranged in the digest. The reconstruction of the edict is the subject of this prize-winning book 'Das edictum perpetuum' (Scientia Verlag, 2010, ISBN 03511000653). The results of his research on the writings of the Roman jurists are contained in these two volumes entitled 'Palingenesia juris civilis'. The subjects of the two books are linked, because many books by Roman jurists were commentaries on the edict or at least they followed the structure of the edict. By studying the structure of the scholarly writings of the jurists Lenel found out how the edict was structured and what provisions it contained. Lenel's work is extremely important for the history of Roman law. It enables modern scholars to consider the original context of the source texts and it helps us understand the technicalities of Rome's legal system. (wikipedia)