Text 2 Roman Law

Roman law in a broad sense refers not only to the legal system of ancient Rome, but also to the law that was applied throughout most of Western Europe until the end of the 18th century. In some countries like Germany the practical application of Roman law lasted even longer. For these reasons, many modern civil law systems in Europe and elsewhere are heavily influenced by Roman law. This is especially true in the field of private law. Even the English and North American Common law owes some debt to Roman law although Roman law exercised much less influence on the English legal system than on the legal systems of the continent. It is impossible to know exactly when the Roman legal system began. The first legal text, the content of which is known to us in some detail, is the Law of the Twelve Tables, which dates from the middle of the 5th century BC.

The original text of the Twelve Tablets has not been preserved. The fragments which did survive show that it was not a law code in the modern sense. It did not provide a complete and coherent system of all applicable rules or give legal solutions for all possible cases. Rather, the tables contained specific provisions designed to change the then-existing customary law. Although the provisions pertain to all areas of law, the largest part is dedicated to private law and civil procedure.

Gradually the Romans amended the principles expressed in the Twelve Tables to meet changing social conditions. Each year a high public official called a praetor made any necessary changes. Eventually, the whole body of Roman law became extremely complex. The task of interpreting this great mass of laws fell to a group of highly skilled lawyers called juris prudentes, a Latin term for experts in law. Since that time the science of law has been known as jurisprudence.

Beginning with Julius Caesar a long line of Roman rulers had tried to organize all the em­pire’s law into an orderly code. Emperor Justinian I finally completed this task. Justinian’s code, the famous Corpus Juris Civilis (Body of Civil Laws), went into effect in 533 and 534. It covered the whole field of law so completely and so skillfully that it later became the model for the first modern law codes.

Today, Roman law is no longer applied in legal practice, even though the legal systems of some states like South Africa and San Marino are still based on the old Ius Commune. However, even where the legal practice is based on a code, many rules deriving from Roman law apply: no code completely broke with the Roman tradition. Rather, the provisions of Roman law were fitted into a more coherent system and expressed in the national language. For this reason, knowledge of Roman law is indispensable to understand the legal systems of today. Thus, Roman law is often still a mandatory subject for law students in civil law jurisdictions.

As steps towards a unification of the private law in the member states of the European Union are being taken, the old Ius Commune, which was the common basis of legal practice everywhere, but allowed for many local variants, is seen by many as a model.

Answer the questions about the text.

1. How important was Roman law for the development of legal systems in Western Europe?

2. What did the Law of the Twelve Tables contain?

3. What was the task of an official called a praetor?

4. What was the task of lawyers called juris prudentes?

5. Why did Justinian’s code play such an important role in the development of law?

6. Why is the knowledge of Roman law still important for law students?