Scaevola, Quintus Mucius

(called Pontifex). Born 140 B.C. (?); died 82 B.C. Jurist of the Roman Republic.

Scaevola occupied high government posts: he was consul in Rome in 95 B.C. and proconsul of the Roman province of Asia in 94 B.C. He is famous for De jure civile, an 18-book work on private law. Departing from traditional structure, the work was not a simple commentary on the laws but a series of legal norms systematically arranged as institutiones. Scaevola’s work was the basis for the scholarly treatment of civil law and had a significant effect on the development of Roman law.