Brevi note sulle strategie giurisdizionali per la tutela degli acquedotti pubblici in Roma antica

The purpose of this paper is to show how in classical Rome the protection of res publicae, in- cluding aqueducts, would not be totally delegated to the public authorities, but often implied the direct involvement of private citizens, who were made in some way jointly responsible for the safeguard of the public interest. The legal instruments used for this purpose – interdicta, operis novi nuntiatio, cautio damni infecti – were provided by the praetor’s edict, in the sense that private individuals were authorized by the edict to bring a series of jurisdictional means before the ma- gistrate himself, primarily aiming at the protection of their own interests and indirectly at the safeguard of public interest. Such means are usually studied in their own peculiarity: instead they were intimately connected one to the other thus providing a large and well organized protection.