Romans and Law

The Roman law is considered as the greatest legacy of ancient Rome to the Western Civilization, as several existing civil and common laws in most Western countries are based on the laws introduced and developed by the Romans.

Rome's laws were first codified around 450 BC when a group of ten magistrates wrote Rome's laws on 12 wooden tablets that became known as the Twelve Tables. The legal system that evolved around these laws (known as the jus civile) applied equally to all Roman citizens and was the source of all public and private laws for a considerable period. As the Roman conquests spread far and wide, the need for a different legal system that applied to all subjects was felt. The praetor (magistrate) was given powers to define and interpret the law applicable to non-Roman citizens. A new legal system known as jus gentium thus evolved. When citizenship of Rome was extended to all free subjects of the Empire, this legal system became redundant and the city law or jus civile of Rome became the law of the empire. (Schwind, 2003)

The most important codification and re-organization of Roman law was carried out on the orders of Emperor Justinian I (483-565 AD). The set of works thus developed, known as Corpus Juris Civilis, are probably the most important legal documents ever written and are still part of esential reading by legal students around the world.

Several legal concepts such as the legal differention between contract and tort, possession and property as well as the concept of contracts being valid when there is a "meeting of minds," can be traced directly to Roman law. ("Roman Law," 2004) These laws have been adopted as part of their legal systems by most countries in Europe and America because of their highly advanced nature.

References

Schwind, Fritz. (2003) "Roman Law." Article in Encyclopedia Encarta, CD-ROM Version, 2003

Roman Law." (2004) From Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved on August 25, 2004 at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_law