This essay focuses on the formal qualities of the imperial rescript to be produced in court in Late Antiquity. A constitution by Diocletian (C. 1.23.3) makes clear that the rescript to be filed in court has to be the “authentic and original” document itself and not a copy. Special ‘authenticity indicators’ for the rescript imposed by the law are to be found in the Theodosian Code, in the Code of Justinian and in the collection of his Novels. These ‘markers’ – such as the imperial subscription, the use of the type of script known as litterae caelestes, the sacred purple ink, the clause si preces veritate nituntur, the date, the adnotatio of the quaestor sacri palatii – are here taken into consideration and analyzed in detail.
