Download Comparative Law * Continental Law

Prof. Giorgio F. COLOMBO
Lesson n.7
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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
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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
Gaius
Ulpianus
Papinianus
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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»
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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
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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
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Institutiones
◦ The study of Roman legal institutions as conceived
by Gaius
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Digesta (Pandectae)
◦ A collection of commentaries by the most famous
jurists
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Codex
◦ A collection of legislations from Adrian to Justinian
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Novellae Costitutiones
◦ Laws enacted by Justinian
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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
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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)
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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
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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
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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