L'impiego di societas nel linguaggio giuridico tardoantico: curiae, strutture amministrative, comunità religiose

This essay studies the use of the term societas in the language of public law in late antiquity, in relation to curiae, corpora and collegia in general, to administrative structures such as officia, to both orthodox and heretical religious communities. Analysis of the constitutions examined brings us to the conclusion that the term is used mostly in a rhetorical and metaphorical sense, without a precise technical-legal meaning. Only with reference to curiae, corpora and collegia, with the use of the word societas does the Chancellery seem to want to highlight an explicit relationship with the private contract of societas, limited, however, to the perspective of obligations incumbent respectively on the members of these entities and on the members of private societates.