PRIVATE LITIGATION IN SASANIAN LAW

Based on Middle Persian sources, above all, the Madigan i Hazar Dadestan, the paper examines the system of the courts and the laws of private litigation in Sasanian Persia. Priests, notably the rads and the mowbeds played a very important role in the legal system as judges, administrators and sometimes witnesses. Courts of appeal were established, run by the mowbeds, whereas the king and the chief mowbed were the highest authorities to pass the final judgment. Cases and judgments recorded in the Law Book mirror the everyday legal practice of the late Sasanian times and are, therefore, suitable to offer a comprehensive survey of how people tried to solve their disputes in Sasanian Persia. The author, who is both a trained lawyer and an Iranist, examines the suit step by step from the beginning of the trial until the final judgment. The underlying principle of private procedural law was the neutrality of the courts which enabled the judges to reach a just judgment by a fair trial granting both parties equal rights.