Masurius Sabinus

Massurius Sabinus was a first century Roman jurist who lived under the emperor Tiberius. Despite lacking the senatorial background typical of jurists of his day, he gained admission to the equestrian order through his ability and imperial favor, and became the first jurist granted the right to give legal opinions with official state backing. He led the Sabinian school of Roman law, a rival to the Proculian school, and his students included Gaius Cassius Longinus, Javolenus Priscus, and Salvius Julianus. His three volume treatise on civil law had wide influence and was still being written about by later jurists such as Ulpian, though no direct excerpts of it survive.

Masurius Sabinus, also known as Massurius, was a Roman jurist who lived in the time of Emperor Tiberius, who reigned from 14 to 37 AD. Unlike most jurists of his time he was not of senatorial rank and was admitted to the equestrian order only late in life, by virtue of his exceptional ability and imperial patronage. He was the first person to give what were called state certified opinions, a privilege granted by the emperor that marked increasing imperial control over the judicial process after the end of the Roman Republic, and the passage in the Digest of Justinian describing the grant of his authority is considered a pivotal point in the history of Roman law. Sabinus led the Sabiniani, a school of legal thought active in the first and second centuries AD founded by Gaius Ateius Capito, whose later members included Javolenus Priscus and Salvius Julianus; their rivals were the Proculiani, named for the jurist Proculus. His principal work was a three volume treatise on civil law that had extensive influence, and later jurists such as Ulpian wrote commentaries on it, though those commentaries survive only through preserved excerpts.