Comparative Law – Continental Law Prof. Giorgio F. COLOMBO

The Birth of the Civil Law System Lesson n.7

But before we start...

ONIMARU, Kaoru

The Roman Empire

Roman Law The Roman Empire had developed a fairly structured system of laws It dates back to V century b.C. («Twelve Tables») The Romans «invented» many legal institutions still in practice today (e.g. Torts, with the Lex Aquilia, 286 b.C.) Most importantly, they developed a legal profession and the idea of a legal science

Roman Law

Roman Law The «Classical period» of Roman Law (～250) Golden Age of «jurists» Refinement of categories in Roman Law – still used today Contracts and torts as sources of obligations Personal rights, rights on things, obligations

Roman Law Papinianus Gaius Ulpianus

Western and Eastern Roman Empire (395)

Fall of the Western Roman Empire In 476, the last Roman Emperor was deposed and the Western Roman Empire ceased to exist However, invading Germanic (and other e.g. Slavic) tribes invading the territory of the former Roman Empire recognized that Roman Law was intellectually superior to their customs «Roman-Barbaric Law»

Codifications in the Eastern Roman Empire The Eastern Roman Empire survived the Fall of Rome and existed as a territorial sovreign entity until 1453 (Fall of Constantinople) Eastern Emperors claimed to be the legitimate heirs to the Roman Empire and took pride in carrying out its tradition This included the legal tradition

The Corpus Iuris Civilis Emperor Justinian entrusted a famous jurist, Tribonian, with the drafting of a major work «restoring» Roman law to the Golden Age of jurists Justinan’s purpose was to stop the «decadence» of Roman law and to leave a mark in the history of Roman legislation The result was the Corpus Iuris Civilis, compiled in 592-534

The Corpus Iuris Civilis Institutiones The study of Roman legal institutions as conceived by Gaius Digesta (Pandectae) A collection of commentaries by the most famous jurists Codex A collection of legislations from Adrian to Justinian Novellae Costitutiones Laws enacted by Justinian

Shaping the Civil Law tradition Irrespective of the political situation of the Roman Empire, Roman law was the most advanced legal system at the time Roman Law was able to survive and shape the modern systems of Civil Law The Civil Law tradition was modeled by mainly three components The Corpus Iuris as studied in Univeristies Church Law Commercial Law

The «School of Bologna»

The «School of Bologna» In the XI century there was a «revival» of Roman law It first took place in Northern Italy, where the world’s oldest university (Bologna University, 1088) is A famous jurist, Irnerius, started studying the Corpus Iuris and in a systematic way Since much of the Roman legal knowledge had been lost, it was necessary to make an annotated comment of the Corpus (glossae)

The «School of Bologna» The «Glossators», as the jurists after Irnerius were called, drafted extensive commentaries to the Corpus Iuris Civilis Bologna became the leading institution for the study of law in Europe Students from all over the European continent went to Bologna to study law, and were therefore deeply influenced by Roman law and Roman legal mentality The idea of Ius Commune was revived

Church (Canon) Law With the collapse of the Roman Empire, the Catholic Church acquired political power and took over a number of functions Registering births and deaths; celebrating and registering marriages; preserving documents The Church codified its rules in «Canons» Canon Law became a subject of study just as Roman Law and they somehow complemented and influenced each other

Commercial Law From the XII century onwards (also because of the Crusades) European merchants regained the possibility to trade in the Mediterranean At the time, many independent political entities were present, so there was no unified set of rules Merchants developed their own practices and this Commercial law, highly influenced by Roman law, became the standard all over Europe and the Mediterranean