Individuality and Law: General Rules Applied to Individual Cases

Just as a good doctor must take into account the individual constitution of his patient before administering treatment, a judge must take into account the individual circumstances of each case he has to decide. In both cases, a general rule (‘Such a fever is treated with such a medicine’, ‘Such a crime deserves such punishment’) is adapted to the individual in question, taking into account their personal constitution or the specific circumstances of their act. This contribution proposes to reflect on the role that individuality – a person's history, personal circumstances – plays in legal decision-making and the application of laws in Byzantium. The analysis is based on a 11th-century legal textbook from Constantinople, entitled La Peira (Ἡ Πεῖρα), remarkably edited in 2023 by Dieter Simon and Diether Reinsch.