Pulchritudo adhaerens: bellezza e antibellezza del diritto romano

Abstract. – The research attempts to answer a simple question: is there a beauty of law and, in this case, can Roman law be evaluated aesthetically? The analysis moves from the author’s unease to consider the jurist’s work as an art in the modern sense, but as an artisanal activity, “ars” in a classical sense. The multidisciplinary approach to the theme is developed with reference to philosophy and the main studies on beauty, with particular attention to Kant’s analysis. Through an examination of the “adherence” of beauty to the legal rule and its purposes, the author proposes a “teleological” theory on the aesthetics of law in general and of Roman law in particular.