Development and Influence ROMAN LAW Development and Influence

Preview Definition Codifications Germanic laws Canon law Ius comune: common law of Europe National codes

Definition 1. The legal system of ancient Rome 2. System of law developed in the Republic of Rome, the Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire

Roman kingdom (753 BC-509 BC)

Expansion of the Roman Republic (509 BC-27 BC)

Expansion of the Roman Empire (Western: 285-476 AD; Eastern: 300-1453)

The Law of the Twelve Tables (Lex Duodecim Tabularum) In the earliest period –laws kept secret by pontifices In 451 BC a board of ten men (Decemvirate) was appointed to draw up a code

Lex Duodecim Tabularum (450 BC)

The Law of the Twelve Tables (Lex Duodecim Tabularum) “...every citizen should quietly consider each point, then talk it over with his friends, and, finally, bring forward for public discussion any additions or subtractions which seemed desirable” (Livy) Formally promulgated in 449 BC Drawn up on 12 tablets posted in the Forum Romanum

The Law of the Twelve Tables (Lex Duodecim Tabularum) not a law code in the modern sense not a complete and coherent system of all applicable rules contained specific provisions designed to change the existing customary law provisions belong to all areas of law, but the largest part is dedicated to private law and civil procedure

Excerpts from the Twelve Tables Tabula I: Civil Procedure If someone is called to go to court, he is to go. If he does not go, a witness should be called. Only then should he be captured.

Excerpts from the Twelve Tables Tabula I: Civil Procedure When parties have made an agreement, announce it. If they don’t agree, they shall state their case in the Forum before noon. They shall plead together in person. After noon, let the judge pronounce. If both are present, the case shall end at sunset.

Roman law Rome's most important contribution to European legal culture - not the enactment of well-drafted statutes, but the emergence of a class of professional jurists (prudentes, or jurisprudentes) and of a legal science. This was achieved in a gradual process of applying the methods of Greek philosophy to the subject of law, a subject which the Greeks themselves never treated as a science.

Roman law: 201 to 27 BC, development of more flexible laws to match the needs of the time. In addition to the old and formal ius civile a new juridical class created: ius honorarium: "The law introduced by the magistrates who had the right to promulgate edicts in order to support, supplement or correct the existing law." old formalism abandoned and new more flexible principles were used

Praetors Adaptation of law to new needs- given over to magistrates, esp. to praetors Praetor - not a legislator; did not technically create new law when he issued his edicts (magistratuum edicta). results of his rulings enjoyed legal protection (actionem dare) and were often the source of new legal rules.

Praetor A Praetor's successor was not bound by the edicts of his predecessor; however, he did take rules from edicts of his predecessor that had proved to be useful. In this way a constant content was created that proceeded from edict to edict (edictum traslatitium).

Classical Roman law distinction between the legal right to use a thing (ownership) from the factual ability to use and manipulate the thing (possession) distinction between contract and tort standard types of contract (sale, employment contract, hire contract, contract for services) Gaius (cc. 160) invented a system of private law based on the division into personae (persons), res (things) and actiones (legal actions). This system can be recognized in the French Civil Code or the German Civil Code

Corpus Iuris Civilis (Codex Justinianus) Most comprehensive code of Roman law, compiled (529-35) under Justinian I, by commission of jurists headed by Tribonian

Corpus Iuris Civilis 1. Codex or Code (collection of imperial constitutions) 2. Digest of Pandects (selections from classical jurists) 3. Institutes (textbook of elementary rules) 4. Novels or Novellae (later constitutions)

GERMANIC LAWS Laws adopted (5th-9th c.) after the Germanic invaders of the Roman Empire had created their governments Leges barbarum incorporated much of the older Germanic customary law Largely concerned with penal law and composition for personal injuries Some of the codes - strong Roman influence

CANON LAW In the Roman Catholic Church, law of the church courts, based on legislation of councils, popes and bishops Based on Roman law

Re-Emergence of Roman Law in the West C. 1050 jurists rediscovered Roman law, namely the compilations of Justinian, especially his Digest Scholars known as glossators, and later as commentators, interpreted the compilations and generated an influential body of literature that came to be known as the jus commune or common law of Europe

THE UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA The oldest university in the world (1088)

THE UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA Students who studied Roman law in Bologna found that many rules of Roman law were better suited to regulate complex economic transactions than customary rules; Roman law was re-introduced into legal practice

Sixteenth century The rediscovered Roman law dominated legal practice in most European countries. A legal system, in which Roman law was mixed with elements of canon law and of Germanic custom

ENGLAND AND ROMAN LAW The English legal system absorbed few elements of Roman law: 1. English legal system – more developed than its continental counterparts when Roman law was rediscovered (Henry II: 1154-1189) 2. Roman law - associated with the Holy Roman Empire and the Roman Catholic Church - unacceptable in England (The Act of Supremacy 1534) English common law developed in parallel to Roman-based civil law

THE FRENCH CIVIL CODE The practical application of Roman law came to an end when national codifications were made In 1804, the French civil code came into force In the 19th century, many European states adopted the French model or drafted their own codes

Summary Law of the Twelve Tables (449 BC) Corpus juris civilis (529-35) Germanic customary law (5th-9th c.) Canon law University of Bologna (1088) Glossators Napoleonic Code (1804)