Marcus Antistius Labeo

Marcus Antistius Labeo (d. 10 or 11 AD) was an Ancient Roman jurist of the gens Antistia.

Marcus Antistius Labeo was the son of Quintus Antistius Labeo, a jurist who caused himself to be slain after the defeat of his party at Philippi. A member of plebeian nobility in easy circumstances young Labeo entered public life early. Marcus Antistius rose quickly to the praetorship; but undisguised antipathy for the new regime and brusque manner he occasionally gave expression to Republican sympathies in the Senate - what Tacitus calls his incorrupta libertas - proved an obstacle to his advancement. His rival, Ateius Capito, a loyal client of new ruling powers, was promoted by Caesar Augustus to the consulate even though Labeo was in line for the job. Smarting under the wrong done him, Labeo declined the office when it was offered to him in a subsequent year.

From this time he seems to have devoted his whole time to jurisprudence. His training in the science had been derived principally from Trebatius Testa. To his knowledge of the law he added a wide general culture, devoting his attention specially to dialectics, philology (grammatica), and antiquities, as valuable aids in the exposition, expansion, and application of legal doctrine. Down to the time of Hadrian his was probably the name of greatest authority; and several of his works were abridged and annotated by later hands.