What did the courts rely on when determining sentences in the early imperial period? Andreas Schilling examines a specific area of ancient Roman criminal law against the backdrop of this question. The republican criminal law and the period from 200 AD onwards have been thoroughly researched due to the availability of good sources. However, the intervening period is less well documented. Not all accessible information from this time has been systematically studied. Different opinions on this matter reflect this gap. The author fills this void. He meticulously evaluates all relevant sources from the early imperial period and chronologically analyzes 120 criminal trials. From the diverse literary tradition, Andreas Schilling extracts legal standards and illustrates how the practice of sentencing evolved on the foundation of republican criminal law during the early imperial period.