Fundamentals of Roman Private Law
Fundamentals of Roman Private Law
.
George Mousourakis
Fundamentals of Roman
Private Law
George Mousourakis
Faculty of Law
University of Auckland
Auckland
New Zealand
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viii Preface
students and lawyers, in particular, such knowledge can provide a key to the
common language of almost every other system of law that traces its origins to
the European ius commune.
The present book begins with a historical introduction, which traces the evolu-
tion of Roman law from the earliest period of Roman history up to and including
Justinian’s codification. This chapter examines the nature and development of the
sources of law in their social and political context, the mechanisms by which the
various sources were made effective and the ways in which each source influenced
the progress of the law. The last part of this chapter outlines the history of Roman
law from the early Middle Ages to modern times and illustrates the way in which
Roman law furnished the basis of modern European legal systems. Then follows an
exposition of the principal institutions of Roman private law: the body of rules and
principles relating to individuals in Roman society and regulating their personal and
proprietary relationships. Private law greatly overshadowed public law in both its
intrinsic merit and subsequent influence. This is because private law had a dominant
role in the development of legal norms and was the chief interest of the Roman
jurists, the most creative element in Roman legal life. In this part of the book special
attention is given to the Roman law of things, which forged the foundations for
much of the modern law of property and obligations in European legal systems.
Furthermore, since the Romans tended to shape their legal rules in terms of
procedural techniques rather than in terms of general and abstract norms, this part
of the book also explores the main features of the law of actions and elucidates the
implementation of legal judgements. Throughout the work care has been taken to
present the major features of Roman private law as a logically interconnected
whole. At the same time, emphasis has been laid on those aspects of Roman law
that have particular importance to today’s lawyer.
This introductory book has been written primarily for students whose course of
studies includes Roman law, European legal history and comparative law. It can
also prove of value to students and scholars interested in the fields of ancient history
and classics. The book endeavours to present the basic principles of Roman private
law as clearly and systematically as possible. Each chapter contains a large number
of explanatory notes and references to Roman juridical sources, designed to assist
the student who wishes to delve deeper into one or more of the topics mentioned.
Since readers may not necessarily possess the expertise to study the original ancient
texts, all the Latin words and phrases are translated and explained in clear and
simple but precise terms. The end of the book lists the bibliographical references for
further reading, together with the titles of the studies and research that formed the
basis of this work. As long as it is remembered that the book is not devised as a
thorough elaboration of all the complexities of Roman private law, and is therefore
likely to be used in conjunction with other more detailed materials, it has a place in
rendering Roman law more accessible to readers in many diverse fields of legal and
historical learning.
The impetus of this book grew from a series of lectures and seminars that I gave
at universities and other academic institutions in New Zealand, Australia, Japan,
Germany and Italy. I would like to thank, in particular, my students at the
Preface ix
xi
xii Contents
Bruns, Fontes Fontes iuris romani antiqui, ed. C. G. Bruns, Tubingen 1909,
repr. Aalen1969
C Codex of Justinian
C Th Codex Theodosianus
D Digest of Justinian
FIRA Fontes Iuris Romani Anteiustiniani, I-III, ed. S. Riccobono,
J. Baviera and V. Arangio-Ruiz, Florence 1940–1943, 2nd edn,
1968
G Institutes of Gaius
Girard, Textes Textes de droit romain, ed. P. F. Girard and F. Senn, 7th edn, Paris
1967
Inst Institutes of Justinian
Nov Novels of Justinian
XII T Law of the Twelve Tables
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