Statuto e profili giuridici delle terme pubbliche in Roma antica

This essay focuses on public thermal baths, with special attention to their legal status in the Imperial Age, their classification in the category of res specifically assigned to common utility and, consequently, the laws consistent with their qualification as "public property". Then, the research deals with the procedures involving edification, maintenance, management of thermal establishment and, in particular, try to clarify the system of leases adopted by the Administration in order to ensure the efficiency of these structures and regulated by provisions bringing specific rights and obligations. Finally, the work points out the key aspects of the "internal regulations" laid down by managers and pertaining to users, prices, timetables and services offered inside the baths; it also takes into account the bodies entitled to exercise control over the functionality of the equipment, together with the jurisdiction on breaches of contracts and torts that led, respectively, to legal actions and to the imposition of peculiar penalties