Roman Law
Published 2020 · E. Metzger
SSRN Electronic Journal
0
Citations
0
Influential Citations
Abstract
The Romans developed a sophisticated body of law over one thousand years. The law was consulted and used in medieval and modern Europe, and from Europe it was exported around the world. Many modern legal systems are based, or partly indebted to, Roman law. The Roman legal tradition endured, even as specific rules fell away. The success of the legal tradition is due to the quality of the legal materials that the Romans produced. Roman office holders were eager to extend new rights to the public, and a professional body of lawyers were skilful in developing those rights and bringing them to a high degree of precision. The Romans eventually produced a systematic framework for their law, and that framework is still reflected in many modern legal systems. The framework paired two diverse bodies of law, property and obligations, which together reflected a person’s economic affairs. The two bodies are unequal; far more rights are treated under obligations than property, and the law of obligations is, to a large extent, an accessory to the law of property. The central role of property in Roman private law indeed proved to be a hindrance in the modern era, when states sought to use Roman private law as a foundation for their own legal systems. ____________ Roman law has a special place in the study of antiquity. It survived as a living system of law beyond its thousand-year history as the law of the Roman people, and became a permanent part of many modern legal systems, both west and east. Therefore when we study Roman law we are, at the same time, studying the modern law, and more generally, discovering the subtle ways that we tacitly think about justice. This makes the study of Roman law powerful. When we talk about the presence of Roman law in the modern law, we are not simply talking about rules. Though some Roman rules are still followed, Roman law is much more than a collection of rules: it is an intellectual tradition. This means that it contains a structure, a vocabulary, a manner of expression, and a stock of ideas about how people should live together. For example, rules are classified into separate groups, so that each group becomes a self-standing system; general and abstract ideas are fixed in certain words like ‘bond’ and ‘good faith’; generations of lawyers continue to speak in the same patterns, using cases, logic, and commands; and last, property is a central feature of most private relations. All of these elements, and many others, come together to form an intellectual tradition, which survives, century after century, even as the rules change. Why has the Roman legal tradition survived for so long? If we can answer this question, we will understand the Roman achievement. The answer is found in the special character of Roman law, or more specifically, in the special character of the people who made it. Two groups of persons were most responsible for the success of the Roman legal tradition.
Sign up to use Study Snapshot
Consensus is limited without an account. Sign up or log in to use Study Snapshot and unlock more functionality.
Full text analysis coming soon...