Roman law

Roman law,

the legal system of Rome from the supposed founding of the city in 753 B.C. to the fall of the Byzantine Empire in A.D. 1453; it was later adopted as the basis of modern civil lawcivil law,
as used in this article, a modern legal system based upon Roman law, as distinguished from common law. Civil law is based on written legal codes, a hallmark of the Roman legal system, in which disputes were settled by reference to a written legal code arrived at
..... Click the link for more information. . Most authorities, however, disregard the largely static period following the reign of Justinian IJustinian I
, 483–565, Byzantine emperor (527–65), nephew and successor of Justin I. He was responsible for much imperial policy during his uncle's reign. Soon after becoming emperor, Justinian instituted major administrative changes and tried to increase state
..... Click the link for more information. (527–65).

Early Roman Law

Roman law in the earliest period known is typically expressed in the Twelve TablesTwelve Tables,
early code of Roman law. Most modern authorities accept the traditional date of 450 B.C., but several place the work later. The tables were supposedly written in response to the plebeians' protest that the patrician judges were able to discriminate against them
..... Click the link for more information. with their marked formalism. The usual early procedure was also stereotyped; it was the legis actio, a form of charge and denial the words of which had to be followed exactly by the parties at the risk of losing the suit. Exact knowledge of the words constituting the legis actiones was limited to a body of patrician priests, the College of Pontiffs. The reduction of these forms to writing (c.250 B.C.) was a victory for the plebeians and a step in reducing the religious and formal element in the law. Soon the primary source of law became the lex (plural leges), a statutory enactment that was proposed by a magistrate and accepted by a popular assembly. Among the assemblies empowered to enact leges was that of the plebeians.

Expansion and Development

In the late 3d cent. B.C., Roman law could no longer limit itself to the inhabitants of the republic but was forced to take account of the surrounding non-Roman peoples. Thus, to the jus civile, which governed relations among the Romans and those admitted to Roman status, was added the jus gentium, the law applied in dealings with a foreigner. The jus gentium incorporated much of the highly developed commercial law of the Greek city-states and of other maritime powers. Such provisions, being better adapted to Rome's expanding economic needs than the unyielding provisions of the jus civile, in time tended to be applied universally.

The development of new principles was especially vigorous after c.100 B.C., an important source being the jus honorarium, i.e., the law of the praetors (chief magistrates). On assuming office the praetor announced the principles, sometimes novel, that would govern his decisions. The praetors also contributed greatly to making practice more flexible. In place of the legis actiones, they often used the formulary system. A formula, like a legis actio, was a device for determining the issue between the parties; but instead of being a mere interchange of prescribed speeches, it provided a structure for discussing the actual dispute. Whichever method was used, when the nature of the dispute was agreed upon, the parties brought their case before the judex, a private functionary, who considered the evidence and gave judgment.

Under the Empire

After the establishment of the empire, the development of law largely passed from the praetors (the practice of issuing new edicts ended c.A.D. 125) and from the popular assemblies into the hands of the emperors, sometimes operating through the senate. Various types of imperial enactments called constitutions were issued in abundance.

Legal problems attained great complexity, and the aid of a specially trained class of scholars was enlisted for their solution. Those jurists with a special license from the emperor could write responsa to guide the judges in deciding cases. Most prominent among the jurists was PapinianPapinian
(Aemilius Papinianus) , d. 212, Roman jurist. He was a close friend of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus, under whom he was libellorum magister [master of the rolls] and later Praetorian prefect; but Severus' son Caracalla had Papinian put to death for reasons
..... Click the link for more information. ; his work, with that of GaiusGaius
, fl. 2d cent., Roman jurist. He is known for the Institutes (repr., 2 vol., 1967; Vol. I is a translation of the text, Vol. II consists of commentaries), a legal textbook that contributed materially to modern knowledge of early Roman law.
..... Click the link for more information. , ModestinusModestinus, Herennius
, fl. c.A.D. 250, Roman jurist; student of Ulpian. Under the Roman Empire he was one of the five jurists, including Papinian, whose views were considered decisive in resolving legal controversies.
..... Click the link for more information. , PaulusPaulus
(Julius Paulus) , fl. c.200, Roman jurist. He was extremely prolific and is thought to have written some 300 books. His surviving work displays keen analysis of the opinions of other jurists and trenchant expression of his own views.
..... Click the link for more information. , and UlpianUlpian
(Dometius Ulpianus) , d. 228, Roman jurist. He was a member of the council of the jurist Papinian. As Praetorian prefect from 222, he enjoyed the favor of the emperor Alexander Severus, and he was murdered by the jealous Praetorian Guard.
..... Click the link for more information. , attained the highest authority. The employment of jurists was a step in making the whole of Roman procedure official; in this process the institution of judex was abolished and the trial placed entirely in the hands of a judge.

By the early 4th cent. most branches of Roman law were fully developed. The system was generally responsive to legal needs and allowed sufficient variety to meet local customs. A grave disadvantage of the system, however, was that the vast corpus of legal matter included much that was confused, contradictory, or redundant; reduction to codecode,
in law, in its widest sense any body of legal rules expressed in fixed and authoritative written form. A statute thus may be termed a code. Codes contrast with customary law (including common law), which is susceptible of various nonbinding formulations, as in the legal
..... Click the link for more information. form was required. The Theodosian CodeTheodosian Code
, Latin Codex Theodosianus, Roman legal code, issued in 438 by Theodosius II, emperor of the East. It was at once adopted by Valentinian III, emperor of the West.
..... Click the link for more information. (438), the earliest attempt, was followed by the Breviary of AlaricBreviary of Alaric
, Visigothic code of Roman law issued (506) by King Alaric II for his Roman subjects in Spain and S Gaul. It is also known as the Lex Romana Visigothorum.
..... Click the link for more information. (506). Finally the task was accomplished with the culminating work of Roman legal scholarship, the Corpus Juris CivilisCorpus Juris Civilis
, most comprehensive code of Roman law and the basic document of all modern civil law. Compiled by order of Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, the first three parts appeared between 529 and 535 and were the work of a commission of 17 jurists presided over by the
..... Click the link for more information. (completed 535) under the direction of TribonianTribonian
(Tribonianus) , d. 545?, Roman jurist. Under the command of Justinian I, he directed the compilation of the Corpus Juris Civilis. It is not possible to determine exactly what Tribonian himself contributed; in all likelihood he wrote largely from his encyclopedic
..... Click the link for more information. .

Continuing Influence

After the mid-6th cent., Roman law persisted as a part of the Germanic lawsGermanic laws,
customary law codes of the Germans before their contact with the Romans. They are unknown to us except through casual references of ancient authors and inferences from the codes compiled after the tribes had invaded the Roman Empire.
..... Click the link for more information. and was in effect in the Byzantine EmpireByzantine Empire,
successor state to the Roman Empire (see under Rome), also called Eastern Empire and East Roman Empire. It was named after Byzantium, which Emperor Constantine I rebuilt (A.D. 330) as Constantinople and made the capital of the entire Roman Empire.
..... Click the link for more information. . Revival of classical studies during the Renaissance prepared the way for the partial resurrection of Roman law as the modern civil lawcivil law,
as used in this article, a modern legal system based upon Roman law, as distinguished from common law. Civil law is based on written legal codes, a hallmark of the Roman legal system, in which disputes were settled by reference to a written legal code arrived at
..... Click the link for more information. in a large part of the world. The jus gentium is perhaps the most widely represented in modern legal systems, for it is the basis of commercial lawcommercial law,
the laws that govern business transactions, except those relating to the maritime transportation of goods (see maritime law). Commercial law developed as a distinct body of jurisprudence with the beginning of large-scale trade.
..... Click the link for more information. even in those countries that follow common lawcommon law,
system of law that prevails in England and in countries colonized by England. The name is derived from the medieval theory that the law administered by the king's courts represented the common custom of the realm, as opposed to the custom of local jurisdiction that
..... Click the link for more information. .

Bibliography

See W. W. Buckland, A Text-Book of Roman Law from Augustus to Justinian (3d ed. 1964); H. J. Wolff, Roman Law (1976); T. Honore, Emperors and Lawyers (1982); J. A. Crook, Law and Life of Rome (1984); D. Earl, The Moral and Political Traditions of Rome (1984); B. W. Frier, The Rise of the Roman Jurists (1985).

Roman law

the code of LAW developed in ancient Rome, which today forms the basis of many modern European codes of law, e.g. in Scotland. It is characteristic of such codes of law that they have received systematic codification. In contrast, it is characteristic of English law, a common law system, that it is based far more on judge-made precedent and, in relative terms, lacks such systematic codification.

Roman Law

the most highly developed system of slave-holding law, which was formulated in Rome, the most important state of the ancient world. Roman law upheld the class interests of slaveholders and the exploitation of slaves.

Roman jurists divided law into public law (Jus publicum) and private law (jus privatum). Public law dealt with the organization of the Roman state, while private law was concerned with the individual. First described by Ulpian, this division reflected the contradiction inherent in society based on the class antagonisms between the private and public interests; it later became the foundation of the legal systems of bourgeois states.

The provisions of public law, including state and criminal law, reflected the class relationships of the slaveholding society of ancient Rome and did not have a significant effect on the history of law. Roman private law did have a great influence on future law. It was based on a clearly expressed individualist principle and guaranteed significant legal and economic autonomy to the individual. Equality in civil defense was characteristic of private law and in 212 was extended to all freemen. Roman law never considered slaves to be subjects of the law. Slaves were viewed as things, and they did not have political rights.

The basic element of Roman law was the right to private property, which was worked out thoroughly and carefully, as were other forms of real right, such as possession and easement. Ways to acquire, renounce, and protect property rights were established, and an owner’s legal faculties were determined. The law of obligations, especially in regard to the contract (contractus), was an important institution of Roman private law. The system of contracts developed by Roman jurists covered the most diverse economic relationships in a society of simple commodity producers and ensured the stability and durability of commodity turnover. Roman law developed such important legal concepts as legal capacity, the juristic person, limitation, and citizenship. It was also concerned with the problems of legal civil liability, and it carefully regulated inheritance.

The comprehensive character of Roman law and the detailed elaboration of relationships related to commodity turnover made Roman law the “classical juristic expression of the vital conditions and conflicts of a society in which private property reigns supreme” (see F. Engels in K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 21, p. 412). Many of the principles of Roman law were used to regulate private-property relationships in different historical periods and were used successfully to protect the property interests not only of slaveholders but also of feudal lords and capitalists. K. Marx wrote that “Roman civil law is civil law in its classical form” (ibid., vol. 1, p. 347). This explains the revival of the precepts of Roman law in the law of feudal and bourgeois states. This revival was particularly significant in the countries of Western Europe during the age of feudalism.

Roman law has been exceptionally important in the history of law and of human culture because of its highly developed legal nature. The precision and simplicity of its definitions and its logical argumentation and formulations have made Roman law a model of legal art. Many terms and principles have been preserved in the laws of numerous countries, and codes of laws have been based on the institutional system introduced by Roman law.

REFERENCES

Kapustin, M. Institutsii rimskogoprava. Moscow, 1880.
Grimm, D. Lektsii po dogme rimskogo prava, 5th ed. St. Petersburg, 1906.
Baron, J. Sistema rimskogo grazhdanskogo prava, 3rd ed., fascs. 1–4. Kiev, 1908–10. (Translated from German.)
Rimskoe chastnoe pravo. Moscow, 1948.
Pereterskii, I. S. Digesty lustiniana. Moscow, 1956.
Novitskii, I. B. Osnovy rimskogo grazhdanskogo prava, 3rd ed. Moscow, 1972.

O. A. ZHIDKOV

Roman law

Roman Law

Between 753 b.c. and a.d. 1453, the legal principles, procedures, and institutions of Roman law dominated Western, and parts of Eastern, civilization. The legal systems of western Europe, with the exception of Great Britain, are based on Roman law and are called civil-law systems. Even the common-law tradition found in the English-speaking world has been influenced by it. In the United States, the Common Law has been paramount, but Roman law has influenced the law of the state of Louisiana, a former French territory that adopted a French civil-law code.

Roman law began as an attempt to codify a set of legal principles for all citizens. In 450 b.c. the Twelve Tables were erected in the Roman Forum. Set forth in tablets of wood or bronze, the law was put on public display, where it could be invoked by persons seeking remedies for their problems. Though the texts of the tablets have not survived, historians believe they dealt with legal procedures, torts, and Family Law issues.

From 753 to 31 b.c., the Roman republic developed the jus civile, or Civil Law. This law was based on both custom and legislation and applied only to Roman citizens. By the third century b.c., the Romans developed the jus gentium, rules of International Law that were applied to interactions between Romans and foreigners. Over time the jus gentium became a massive compendium of law produced by magistrates and governors.

Romans divided the law into jus scriptum, written law, and jus non scriptum, unwritten law. The unwritten law was based on custom and usage, while the written law came from legislation and many types of written sources, including edicts and proclamations issued by magistrates, resolutions of the Roman Senate, laws issued by the emperor, and legal disquisitions of prominent lawyers. Roman law concerned itself with every type of legal issue, including contracts, inheritance of property, family law, business organizations, and criminal acts.

Roman law steadily accumulated during the course of the empire, and over time it became contradictory and confusing. In the early sixth century a.d., the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, appointed a commission to examine the body of law and determine what should be kept and what should be discarded. From this effort came the Corpus Juris Civilis, a Codification of Roman law that became the chief lawbook of what remained of the Roman Empire.

The decline of the Roman Empire also led to the diminution of interest in Roman law in western Europe. The Corpus was unknown to western scholars for centuries. During the twelfth century, however, Roman law studies revived in western Europe. In the late eleventh century, a manuscript containing part of the Corpus was discovered in Pisa, Italy. The remainder of the compilation was soon recovered, and schools where Roman law could be studied were established in Bologna, Italy, and then elsewhere in Europe. By the twelfth century, commentaries on the Corpus Juris Civilis appeared, and in time men trained in Roman law found posts in secular and ecclesiastical bureaucracies throughout Europe.

As a result, the legal systems of the Catholic Church and of almost every country in Europe were influenced by Roman law. Around the year 1140, the scholar Gratian prepared the Concordance of Discordant Canons, or Decretum. The Decretum was the largest and best-organized compendium of canon (church) law up to that time. Gratian used the Corpus Juris Civilis as his model, and later canonists studying the Decretum used the same methods that Roman lawyers applied to the Corpus Juris Civilis. Many scholars became masters of both Roman and Canon Law.

Among the nations of western Europe, England, which had already established a viable common-law tradition and a system of royal courts by the time that Roman law became accessible, felt the impact of the revival of Roman law the least. Nevertheless, English Law drew upon Roman admiralty law, and the crimes of forgery and libel were based on Roman models. English ecclesiastical courts applied canon law, which was based on Roman law, and the universities of Oxford and Cambridge taught canon and Roman law. Scholars have noted the similarities between the Roman and English actions of Trespass, and the equitable method of Injunction may have been derived from canon law. Much of western European Commercial Law, which contained Roman law, became part of English law without much change.

The legal systems of most continental European nations owe their basic structures and categories to Roman law. Scholars point to several reasons for this "reception" of Roman law. In some areas such as southern France where remnants of Roman law had survived the collapse of the Roman Empire, the Corpus Juris Civilis helped to explain the institutions that were already in existence. More important in ensuring the reception of Roman law were the political principles that it contained. Law that had been produced in a centralized state under a sovereign emperor could be used to buttress the arguments of the European rulers as they struggled to assert their sovereignty over the feudal nobility.

At the same time that many of these rulers were consolidating their power, they were also expanding royal administration. This created new positions in government that often were filled by men with training in Roman law. Such men compiled collections of unwritten customs, drafted statutes, and presided over the courts, all of which provided opportunities for the penetration of Roman law.

Roman law did not displace local customs. Instead, its influence was subtle and selective. A compiler of unwritten German customs might arrange the collection according to Roman principles of organization. A royal judge confronted with an issue on which customs of different regions in the kingdom disagreed might turn to Roman law, the only law in many cases that was common to the entire kingdom. Similarly, Roman law could be used when local customs offered no solutions. For example, the Roman law of contracts was particularly influential because European customary law had developed in an agrarian economy and was often inadequate for an economy in which commerce played an increasingly larger role.

After 1600 the reception of Roman law slowed in most countries but did not entirely disappear. In nineteenth-century Europe, the Corpus Juris Civilis provided inspiration for several codifications of law, notably the French Code Napoléon of 1804, the Austrian code of 1811, the German code of 1889, and the Swiss codes of 1889 and 1907. Through these codes, elements of Roman law spread beyond Europe. The Code Napoléon served as a model for codes in Louisiana, Québec, Canada, and most of the countries of Latin America. German law influenced Hungarian, Brazilian, Japanese, and Greek law, and Turkey borrowed from Swiss law. In addition, the law of both Scotland and the Republic of South Africa derives from Roman law.

Commentators, while noting the differences between common law and civil law, which is based on Roman law, also point out that these differences can be overemphasized. Common-law countries, like the United States, enact statutes and even comprehensive codes, such as the Uniform Commercial Code, while civil-law countries have laws that have been developed by the courts and not enacted through legislation. Roman law itself contained these conflicting impulses of codification and judicial interpretation.

Cross-references

Napoleonic Code.

Roman law

the law of ancient Rome; also the legal system and science built upon it and adopted in various ways in various places at various times up to the present. The classical period ran from roughly 27 BC to the middle of the third century AD. The first phase of the law then concluded with the codification of all the law by Justinian (AD 527-565) in the CORPUS JURIS CIVILIS. The Roman law survived in watered-down form in Constantinople until its fall in 1453. Its real ‘second life’ began in the West when Justinian's Digest was discovered and used as the heart of a revived study of Irnerius (1050-1130) at the University of Bologna. While England developed its own system, other states looked to Roman law for inspiration. The NAPOLEONIC CODE began a process of the adoption of Roman and Romantic legal thought throughout Europe. Often the term civil law or civilian is used for the post-Justinian period. The importance of the Roman tradition lies in the fact that the law was set out in a systematic way - obligations, property and persons being separated yet related. This meant there was less danger of haphazard, incongruous organic development where the reports of decided cases are simply collected.

Roman law

Roman law

Roman law

Ro′man law′

Roman law

Roman law,

Early Roman Law

Expansion and Development

Under the Empire

Continuing Influence

Bibliography

Roman law

Roman Law

REFERENCES

Roman law

Roman Law

Further readings

Cross-references

Roman law

Roman law

Synonyms for Roman law

noun the legal code of ancient Rome

Synonyms

Related Words