Roman law
Roman law thus served as a basis for legal practice throughout Western continental Europe, as well as in most former colonies of these European nations, including Latin America, and also in Ethiopia.
[1] Eastern Europe was also influenced by the jurisprudence of the Corpus Juris Civilis, especially in countries such as medieval Romania, which created a new legal system comprising a mixture of Roman and local law.
The ius civile of the time was undeveloped, with attributes of strict formalism, symbolism, and conservatism, for example, as embodied in the ritual practice of mancipatio.
[4] In 451 BC, according to the traditional story, according to Livy, ten Roman citizens were chosen to record the laws, known as the decemviri legibus scribundis.
The decemvirate of 451 BC is believed to have assumed the leading functions in Rome and included the most controversial points of customary law.
It did not provide a complete and coherent system of all applicable rules or give legal solutions for all possible cases.
[6] Another important statute from the Republican era is the Lex Aquilia of 286 BC, which may be regarded as the root of modern tort law.
[citation needed] Rome's most important contribution to European legal culture was not the enactment of well-drafted statutes, but the emergence of a class of professional jurists (prudentes or jurisprudentes, sing.
Around the year 300 BC, Flavius is said to have published the formularies containing the words which had to be spoken in court to begin a legal action.
Whether or not this story is credible, jurists were active, and legal treatises were written in larger numbers before the 2nd century BC.
Among the famous jurists of the republican period are Quintus Mucius Scaevola, who wrote an influential and voluminous treatise on all aspects of the law, and Servius Sulpicius Rufus, a friend of Marcus Tullius Cicero.
The assemblies passed laws and made declarations of war; the Senate controlled the treasury; and the consuls had the highest juridical power.
This edict contained detailed descriptions of all cases, in which the praetor would allow a legal action and in which he would grant a defense.
Gaius's system was used for many centuries, and has been recognized in legal treatises like William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England and enactments like the French Code civil and the German BGB.
The political system of the Principate, which had retained some features of the republican constitution, began to transform itself into the absolute monarchy of the Dominate.
[9] The codes of Justinian, particularly the Corpus Juris Civilis (529–534) continued to be the basis of legal practice in the Empire throughout its so-called Byzantine history.
Roman law as preserved in the codes of Justinian and in the Basilica remained the basis of legal practice in Greece and in the courts of the Eastern Orthodox Church even after the fall of the Byzantine Empire and the conquest by the Turks, and, along with the Syro-Roman law book, also formed the basis for much of the Fetha Negest, which remained in force in Ethiopia until 1931.
Roman lawyers would also include in the ius scriptum the edicts of magistrates (magistratuum edicta), the advice of the Senate (Senatus consulta), the responses and thoughts of jurists (responsa prudentium), and the proclamations and beliefs of the emperor (principum placita).
If the thing could not be recovered, the plaintiff could also claim damages from the defendant with the aid of the condictio furtiva, another personal action.
Roughly, legis actio system prevailed from the time of the XII Tables (c. 450 BC) until about the end of the 2nd century BC; the formulary procedure was primarily used from the last century of the Republic until the end of the classical period (c. AD 200); and cognitio extra ordinem was used in post-classical times.
German legal theorist Rudolf von Jhering famously remarked that ancient Rome had conquered the world three times: the first through its armies, the second through its religion, the third through its laws.
He might have added: each time more thoroughly.In the west, Justinian's political authority never went any farther than certain portions of the Italian and Hispanic peninsulas.
This process was actively supported by many kings and princes who employed university-trained jurists as counselors and court officials and sought to benefit from rules like princeps legibus solutus est ("The sovereign is not bound by the laws", a phrase initially coined by Ulpian, a Roman jurist).
[citation needed] By the middle of the 16th century, the rediscovered Roman law dominated the legal practice of many European countries.
One reason for this is that the English legal system was more developed than its continental counterparts by the time Roman law was rediscovered.
Elements of Romano-canon law were present in England in the ecclesiastical courts and, less directly, through the development of the equity system.
Especially in the early 19th century, English lawyers and judges were willing to borrow rules and ideas from continental jurists and directly from Roman law.
The practical application of Roman law, and the era of the European Ius Commune, came to an end when national codifications were made.
In some parts of Germany, Roman law continued to be applied until the German civil code (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch, BGB) went into effect in 1900.
[15][16][17] As steps towards a unification of the private law in the member states of the European Union are being taken, the old jus commune, which was the common basis of legal practice everywhere in Europe, but allowed for many local variants, is seen by many as a model.
