1. Comparative Law – Continental Law
Prof. Giorgio F. COLOMBO

2. The Birth of the Civil Law System
Lesson n.7

3. But before we start...

4. ONIMARU, Kaoru

5. The Roman Empire

6. 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

7. Roman Law

8. 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

9. Roman Law
Papinianus
Gaius
Ulpianus

10. Western and Eastern Roman Empire (395)

11. 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»

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. The «School of Bologna»

17. 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)

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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