Dare a Paolo quel che non è di Paolo: un controverso trattato in materia di cognitio extra ordinem

The article examines the problem of the transmission of Roman legal science texts with reference to a specific work that Justinian’s tradition attributes to Paul: the liber singularis de cognitionibus. The aim is to use the exegesis of the few fragments at our disposal – mainly about tutela – as a mean to make up a hypothesis about its authenticity, the events of its composition, the origin of materials included in it and, broadly, the consistence of the whole literary genre.