Why The Roman Law is Important

Introduction

Roman Law was the law that was in effect throughout the age of antiquity in the City of Rome and later in the Roman Empire. When Roman rule over Europe came to an end, Roman law was largely--though not completely--forgotten. (Ancient Rome, Compton's 96)

The earliest code of Roman Law was the Law of the Twelve Tables. It was formalized in 451-450BC from existing oral law by ten magistrates, called decemvirs, and inscribed on tablets of bronze, which were posted in the principal Roman Forum. According to tradition, the code was drawn up to appease the plebs, who maintained that their liberties were not adequately protected by the unwritten law as interpreted by patrician judges. (Ancient Rome, Compton's 96) Originally ten tablets of laws were inscribed; two more tablets were added the following year. The tablets were destroyed in the sack of Rome by the Gauls in 390BC, but a number of the laws are known through references in later Latin literature. The Twelve Tables covered all categories of the law and also included specific penalties for various infractions. The code underwent frequent changes but remained in effect for almost 1000 years.

In the 6th century a commission appointed by the Roman emperor Justinian consolidated all the sources of law, resulting in the Corpus Juris Civilis (Body of Civil Law). The Corpus Juris had no immediate effect in Western Europe, but in the second half of the 11th century it was rediscovered in Italy. The study of law based on the Corpus Juris was instituted at European universities, and the Corpus Juris became an important part of Continental law. (Ancient Rome, Compton's 96) Combined with canon law and the customs of merchants, they formed a body of law known throughout continental Europe.

During the 17th and 18th centuries the authority of the Corpus Juris began to decline as it was reexamined. The stage was set for the codification of modern civil law. In the 19th century most civil-law countries codified the bulk of their legal statutes.

The Early Law

Prior to the Twelve Tables, the law of Rome was religious in character, and its interpretation rested with priests, who were members of the patrician class. Complaints and agitation by the plebs, the common people, led to the reduction to writing of the existing legal customs and the addition of new principles unknown in the customary law. The Law of the Twelve Tables thus drafted was submitted to and accepted by the popular assembly. This code set forth simple rules suitable for an agricultural community; it established equal law for patricians and plebs and was prized by the Romans as the source of all public and private law. The legal system established under this code, and the body of rules that developed around it, applied exclusively to Roman citizens and was known as the jus civile. (Ancient Rome, Compton's 96)

The laws of the Twelve Tables are one of the earliest extant law codes. Covering both civil and criminal matters, it is commonly believed that these laws served to codify existing custom. They provide not only a valuable insight into Roman law, but into Roman culture as well.

Conquest over the Mediterranean basin compelled the Romans to work out a new system of law. Each conquered territory had its own system, and a body of law was required that would be applicable to both citizens and subjects. Between about 367BC and AD137 the new law was developed from the edicts of the praetor, or magistrate, who defined and interpreted the law in individual cases. The praetor of the foreigners administered justice in Rome in all controversies except those in which both parties were citizens; the praetor, or provincial magistrate, patterned his edicts in matters of commercial interest after the edict of the foreign praetor in Rome. (Civil Law, Comptons 96) During the last century of the republic the rules of the new system were generally made applicable to controversies between Roman citizens. This new legal system was known as the jus gentium. The extension of citizenship during the years from 100BC to AD212 to all free inhabitants of the Roman Empire made the distinction between the jus gentium and the jus civile obsolete, and the city law or jus civile of Rome became the law of the empire. Provincial diversities were effaced by legislation by the senate and emperor and by juristic interpretation.

The most significant development in the Roman legal system of this period was the right given by the first Roman emperor Augustus and his successors to eminent jurists to deliver responsa, or opinions, on the legal cases on trial in the courts. Among the most famous of these Roman jurists were Gaius (flourished 2nd century AD), Papinian, Julius Paulus (flourished 3rd century AD), and Ulpian, the last three of whom successively held the position praefectus praetoria, or minister of justice of the Roman Empire. (Ancient Rome, Comptons 96)

Augustus, the first ruler of Rome after it became an empire, restored civil order, peace, and prosperity to a Rome that had suffered several decades of civil wars. Born Gaius Octavius and adopted by Julius Caesar, he was given the name Augustus, meaning, "consecrated," by the Roman Senate after he avenged Caesars death and consolidated his power. He later received the title, imperator, from which was derived the word "emperor." (Ancient Rome, Comptons 96)

Octavian Augustus was really the greatest civil leader that the ancient world ever produced. When he came to Rome after Caesar's murder, his only possessions were an inherited name and whatever appeal his youth might bring; but in cold, sagacious steps he made his way rapidly on the policy of avenging Caesar. Through his good sense, moderation, and conscientious attention to duty, Augustus won the support of all major elements in the Mediterranean world. In many provinces, which now enjoyed more careful government and suffered less from extortion, he was made a god, and the month of his final achievement was named after him. Augustus lived to be 76 years old. In his last year, he revised a recital of the great deeds he had achieved for the Roman State. The original version in Rome has disappeared, but another copy of this work, was carved on the temple of Augustus at Ancyra and still survives.

In his administration of the Roman Empire, the disaster that upset Augustus the most took place in Germany. While Augustus remained at peace with Parthia, he advanced the Roman frontier in Europe to the Danube and Rhine. By this advance he subjected modern Switzerland, Austria, much of Hungary, and the Balkans to Roman rule and protected the connections between the western and eastern provinces of the Empire; no other Roman leader made such additions. (Augustus Caesar, Comptons 96)

In 9 AD, Varies, the governor of Germany, was lured into a trap and three Roman legions were wiped out; all of Germany was lost. Since Augustus had neither the energy nor the military strength to start a re-conquest, the Roman frontier remained essentially on the Rhine. Yet, the Mediterranean world attained peace and prosperity under the government of Augustus, who was celebrated in temples, statues, and dedications as an earthly redeemer. The Empire was expensive in its demands of men for the armed forces and of money to support the political system, but the accompanying economic expansion supported these burdens without great difficulty for two centuries and more.

First Legal Code

In the 3rd century AD the decrees or laws issued by the emperors gained increasing importance in the Roman legal system. Theodosius II, ruler of the Byzantine Empire, in AD438, published the first codification of this imperial legislation, the Codex Theodosianus. Theodosius entertained, but did not carry out, a broader plan, involving an official digest of the older law, as set forth in the juristic literature. Subsequently Justinian I appointed a committee of ten jurists, the most famous of who was his chief legal minister, Tribonian, to make such a digest. (Exouedate.com)

In the sixth century AD, the Eastern Roman Emperor, Justinian (Iustinianus), ordered the compilation of several law codes. These codes were based on much older sources of law, mostly statutes and legal writings from the classical period. They were the Institutes (Institutiones), the Digest (Digesta or Pandectae), and the Code (Codex). The Institutes is a book largely copied from the Institutes of Gaius - written 300 years prior. The rules contained in the Institutes were given legal force in many countries; consequently the work may be regarded as both a textbook and a statute. The Digest is a collection of fragments from scholarly writings. Like the rules contained in the Institutes, the legal opinions expressed in these fragments were often given legal force. The Code is a collection of imperial statutes. The Novellae is a collection of the laws issued by Justinian and his successors. The revised Codex Constitutionum was a compilation of all imperial legislation up to AD534. The law books published by Justinian, the Institutiones, the Digesta and the Codex, together with the Novellae, are collectively known as the Corpus Juris Civilis. (Exouedate.com)

Application of Roman Law

In Medieval times (from about the 11th century onward) there was a renewed interest in the law of the Romans. Initially, Roman Law was only studied by scholars and taught at the universities, Bologna being the first place where Roman Law was taught. Soon Roman Law came to be applied in legal practice--especially in the area of civil law. (Civil Law, Comptons 96) This process of (re-) adoption (reception) of Roman Law occurred at varied times and to various extents across all of Europe (England being the most important exception). Thus from about the 16th century onward, Roman Law was in force throughout most of Europe. However, in the process of adoption/reception many Roman rules were amalgamated with, or amended to suit, the legal norms of the various European nations. Thus, Roman rules, applied in Europe at this period, were by no means identical with Roman Law from antiquity. Nonetheless, because the law that had evolved was common to most European countries, it was called the Ius Commune (common law). (Civil Law, Comptons 96)

In the form of the Ius Commune, Roman Law was in force in many jurisdictions until national codes superseded these rules in the 18th and 19th centuries. In many regions of the German Reich, Roman Law remained the primary source of legal rules until the introduction of the German Civil Code in 1900.

When the Medieval scholars started to study the old texts of the Corpus Iuris again, they first wrote explanations concerning the meaning of single words in the texts (glosses). Based on earlier works of this kind, at the beginning of the 13th century, Accursius of Bologna wrote a collection of such glosses to the texts of the Digest and the Code. This seminal work destined previous piecemeal attempts to oblivion. It was simply called The Gloss (glossa ordinaria) and all further elaboration of the Ius Commune proceeded from Accursius' gloss. (Touregypt.net)

Conclusion

Law develops as society evolves. Beginning in the 15th century, many European countries extensively colonized North and South America, Africa, and parts of Asia. Colonial expansion spread the civil law system as colonizers imposed their system of law on their colonies. After achieving independence, some former colonies retained the legal system established by the colonizer. For example, the African nation of Senegal has retained the civil law system established by France. Other former colonies chose a modified civil law system. (Civil Law, Comptons 96) The state of Louisiana, unlike all other American states, has a civil law system for non-criminal matters. This system originated during the period when Louisiana was a colony of France and then Spain. (Civil Law, Comptons 96)

Some former colonies based their new legal systems not on the specific civil law system of their colonizer, but on the civil law tradition in general. For example, Bolivia, a former Spanish colony, adopted a system closely modeled on the French code. A few countries that were never colonized by countries with civil law systems, such as South Korea and Greece, have independently adopted the civil law model.

A few countries maintain a mixed legal system, combining elements of civil law with other legal influences. For example, Scotlands legal system includes elements of civil and common law. Several African and Middle Eastern countries have civil law systems that contain elements of Islamic law.

The common-law systems of England, and later of the U.S., developed in a different manner. Before the Norman Conquest (1066), England was a loose confederation of societies, the laws of which were largely tribal and local. The Anglo-Norman rulers created a system of centralized courts that operated under a single set of laws that superseded the rules laid down by earlier societies. This legal system, known as the common law of England, began with common customs, but over time it involved the courts in lawmaking that was responsive to changes in society. (Common Law, Comptons 96)

Today Roman Law has been replaced by modern codes. These codes, however, did not create new law from scratch. But rather to a large extent, the rules of Roman Law that had been transmitted were placed in a statutory framework, which provided a modern, systematic order. This is particularly true in regard to the German Civil Code. To fully understand the German Civil Code, it is necessary to know about the legal foundation upon which it rests. As this is true in regard to German law, it is equally true in regard to most modern European legal systems.

Most important of all, Roman Law will have great significance in regard to the formation of uniform legal rules, which further the process of political integration in Europe. Roman Law is the common foundation upon which the European legal order is built. Therefore, it can serve as a source of rules and legal norms that will easily blend with the national laws of the many and varied European states.