This book is a study of the character and compilation of Justinian's Digest, the main volume of Justinian's Corpus Iuris Civilis (528-534 AD). This is often considered as one of the most influential works in the history of Western culture. It remains significant, partly because it is still a part of the law in six countries in Southern Africa, and partly because of its role in the evolution over fifteen hundred years of the theory and practice of human rights - a theme explored in Professor Honore's previous book studying Ulpian (2nd ed, OUP 2002).
The book gives a detailed account of the probable methods used in the compilation of the Digest and distinguishes the respective roles of imperial ministers, law professors, and advocates. It also examines the broader issues raised by the Digest's creation - how it was conceived by its compilers, its purpose, and its impact.

Seeking to fill a gap in our knowledge of the legal history of the nineteenth century, this volume studies the influence of Roman and civil law upon the development of common law jurisdictions in the United States and in Great Britain. M. H. Hoeflich examines the writings of a variety of prominent Anglo-American legal theorists to show how Roman and civil law helped common law thinkers develop their own theories.

Intellectual leaders in law in the United States and Great Britain used Roman and civil law in different ways at different times. The views of these lawyers were greatly respected even by nonlawyers, and most of them wrote to influence a wider public. By filling in the gaps in the history of jurisprudence, this volume also provides greater understanding of the development of Anglo-American culture and society.

In the first volume in this new series on Roman society and law, Saskia T. Roselaar traces the social and economic history of the ager publicus, or public land. As the Romans conquered Italy during the fourth to first centuries BC, they usually took land away from their defeated enemies and declared this to be the property of the Roman state. This land could be distributed to Roman citizens, but it could also remain in the hands of the state, in which case it was available for general public use. However, in the third and second centuries BC growth in the population of Italy led to an increased demand for land among both commercial producers and small farmers. This in turn led to the gradual privatization of the state-owned land, as those who held it wanted to safeguard their rights to it. Roselaar traces the currents in Roman economy and demography which led to these developments.

The translation and publication of Matthaeus' De Criminibus, which first appeared in 1644, was undertaken at the request of the South African Law Commission which is responsible for "making common-law authorities more readily available, or at any rate more intelligible" to those with little or no working knowledge of Latin.

By the Sweat of Your Brow brings together the contributions of seven scholars from the UK and the European continent on different aspects of the socio-economic setting of Roman slavery. Individual chapters discuss the slave chapter of Diocletian's Edict on Maximum Prices, the relationship between slave and free labour, the status of managerial slaves such as vilici and dispensatores, the use of legal sources for our understanding of the role of slavery in Roman society, the unchanging nature of slave prices from classical Athens and late antique Rome, the similarity in discourse and reality of the functions carried out by estate managers in ancient Rome and modern slave and serf societies, and, last, the structural relationship between a slave's peculium, the acquisition of freedom, and citizenship. Each chapter provides in-depth analysis of its chosen subject matter thus furthering the modern debate on the role of slavery in Rome's society and economy as well as on the interrelationship between the peculiar institution and its socio-economic setting.

European culture has been greatly influenced by the Christian Church and Greek and Roman culture. However, the peoples of Europe's remote past, whom the Greeks, Romans, and their medieval heirs called the "barbarians", also left their mark. Closely examining ancient and medieval narratives and the codifications of laws, this thoughtfully conducted comparative study sheds light on the illiterate societies of the early Germanic and Slavic peoples. The picture that emerges is one of communities built on kinship, neighborly, and tribal relations, where decision making, judgement, and punishment were carried out collectively, and the distinction between the sacred and profane was unknown.

This book makes the important but surprisingly under-explored argument that modern international law was built on the foundations of Roman law and Roman imperial practice. A pivotal figure in this enterprise was the Italian Protestant Alberico Gentili (1552-1608), the great Oxford Roman law scholar and advocate, whose books and legal opinions on law, war, empire, embassies and maritime issues framed the emerging structure of inter-state relations in terms of legal rights and remedies drawn from Roman law and built on Roman and scholastic theories of just war and imperial justice. The distinguished group of contributors examine the theory and practice of justice and law in Roman imperial wars and administration; Gentili's use of Roman materials; the influence on Gentili of Vitoria and Bodin and his impact on Grotius and Hobbes; and the ideas and influence of Gentili and other major thinkers from the 16th to the 18th centuries on issues such as preventive self-defence, punishment, piracy, Europe's political and mercantile relations with the Ottoman Empire, commerce and trade, European and colonial wars and peace settlements, reason of state, justice, and the relations between natural law and observed practice in providing a normative and operational basis for international relations and what became international law. This book explores ways in which both the theory and the practice of international politics was framed in ways that built on these Roman private law and public law foundations, including concepts of rights. This history of ideas has continuing importance as European ideas of international law and empire have become global, partly accepted and partly contested elsewhere in the world.

This study of disputes and their settlement in twelfth-century Tuscany is more than just legal history. Studded with colourful contemporary narratives, the book explores the mindsets of medieval Italians, and examines the legal framework which structured their society. Chris Wickham uncovers the interrelationships and collisions between different legal systems, and in doing so provides a new understanding of mentalities and power in the Italian city-state.

A vibrant, accessible social history of Rome, from 753 BCE to the fall of the Empire some 1300 years later. To support its findings the book features hundreds of translations of inscriptions and graffiti from original authors-Roman, Greek and Jewish-and evidence culled from the visual arts, curse tablets, official records and letters both private and official. Each comes with detailed commentaries, placing them into social and historical context. The result is a fascinating survey of how Roman men, women and children lived their lives on a daily basis taking in marriage, slavery, gladiators, medicine, magic, religion, superstition and the occult; sex, work and play, education, death, housing, country life and city life. There are also chapters on domestic violence, family pets and FGM. In short, 'When in Rome' gives a vivid description of what the Romans really did.

From property law to delict and unjustified enrichment, this textbook focuses on the areas of Roman law that most influenced Scots law. Students will enter practice with a greater depth of understanding of the roots of modern Scots law, helping them to feel confident in using Roman materials when tackling today's legal problems.

Roman litigation has long been a difficult subject for study, hampered by a lack of information concerning the practical operation of the civil courts. Using newly discovered evidence, Metzger presents a new interpretation of how civil trials in Classical Rome were commenced and brought to judgement.

Originally published between 1920-70,The History of Civilization was a landmark in early twentieth century publishing. It was published at a formative time within the social sciences, and during a period of decisive historical discovery. The aim of the general editor, C.K. Ogden, was to summarize the most up to date findings and theories of historians, anthropologists, archaeologists and sociologists. This reprinted material is available as a set or in the following groupings: * Prehistory and Historical Ethnography Set of 12: 0-415-15611-4: GBP800.00 * Greek Civilization Set of 7: 0-415-15612-2: GBP450.00 * Roman Civilization Set of 6: 0-415-15613-0: GBP400.00 * Eastern Civilizations Set of 10: 0-415-15614-9: GBP650.00 * Judaeo-Christian Civilization Set of 4: 0-415-15615-7: GBP250.00 * European Civilization Set of 11: 0-415-15616-5: GBP700.00

Rome acquired her great empire under republican institutions. These institutions were held to be remarkably stable because they were a mixture of monarchy, oligarchy and democracy, created by natural evolution not by a lawgiver. The Republic was also a classic example of a largely unwritten constitution, like that of Britain, and so it has bearing on modern political theory.

Modern accounts of how the classical Romans sued each other tend to show the opponents willingly working together under the guidance of a magistrate, until their case was ready for trial. The parties found a convenient time to make their first appearance, at which time they decided on the details of their case, selected a judge, and received permission to go to trial. If any delay were necessary, the magistrate helped the parties in their arrangements to return. This picture is unrealistic: it presumes a high degree of cooperation between the parties, the personal stewardship of a magistrate, and the ready availability of a judge. This accepted picture emerged over time from a tiny amount of evidence. Justinian had no interest in preserving evidence on classical procedure, and subsequent generations of jurists often did not regard rules of procedure as worthy of interest. Recent years, however, have brought a flood of new evidence on classical Roman legal procedure. Metzger examines this evidence, painting a picture of litigation that is far less polite and far less orderly. He examines how the rules of procedure coped with the typical pretrial delays that the Roman system, and indeed any legal system, faces.

Priests of the Law tells the story of the first people in the history of the common law to think of themselves as legal professionals. In the middle decades of the thirteenth century, a group of justices working in the English royal courts spent a great deal of time thinking and writing about what it meant to be a person who worked in the law courts. This book examines the justices who wrote the treatise known as Bracton. Written and re-written between the 1220s and the 1260s, Bracton is considered one of the great treatises of the early common law and is still occasionally cited by judges and lawyers when they want to make the case that a particular rule goes back to the beginning of the common law. This book looks to Bracton less for what it can tell us about the law of the thirteenth century, however, than for what it can tell us about the judges who wrote it. The judges who wrote Bracton - Martin of Pattishall, William of Raleigh, and Henry of Bratton - were some of the first people to work full-time in England's royal courts, at a time when there was no recourse to an obvious model for the legal professional. They found one in an unexpected place: they sought to clothe themselves in the authority and prestige of the scholarly Roman-law tradition that was sweeping across Europe in the thirteenth century, modelling themselves on the jurists of Roman law who were teaching in European universities. In Bracton and other texts they produced, the justices of the royal courts worked hard to ensure that the nascent common-law tradition grew from Roman Law. Through their writing, this small group of people, working in the courts of an island realm, imagined themselves to be part of a broader European legal culture. They made the case that they were not merely servants of the king: they were priests of the law.

The expansion of Christianity and the codification of Roman law are two of the most significant facets of late antiquity. The Collatio Legum Mosaicarum et Romanarum, or Collation of the Laws of Moses and the Romans, is one of the most perplexing works of late antiquity: a law book compiled at the end of the fourth century by an anonymous editor who wanted to show the similarity between laws of the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, and Roman law. Citing first laws from the Hebrew Bible - especially from Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy which he believed were written by Moses - the anonymous Collator then compared corresponding passages from Roman jurists and from Roman laws to form discussions on sixteen topics such as homicide, adultery, homosexuality, incest, and cruelty towards slaves. While earlier scholars wrestled with dating the Collatio, the religious identity of the Collator, and the purpose of the work, this book suggests that the Collator was a Christian lawyer writing in the last years of the fourth century in an attempt to draw pagan lawyers to seeing the connections between the law of a monotheistic God and traditional Roman law.
Frakes's volume presents a five-chapter historical study of the Collatio with a revised Latin text, new English translation, and a historical and juristic commentary.

Examining the numerous primary sources, including inscriptions, religions, histories, literary references, legal codes, and archaeological reports, Linda Jones Hall presents a composite history of late antique Berytus - from its founding as a Roman colony in the time of Augustus, to its development into a center of legal study under Justinian. The book examines all aspects of life in the city, including geographical setting, economic base, built environment, political structures, religious transitions from paganism to Christianity, and the self-identity of the inhabitants in terms of ethnicity and occupation. This volume provides: * the first detailed investigation of late antique Phoenicia * a look at religious affiliations are traced among pagans, Jews, and Christians * a study of the bishops and the churches. The full texts of numerous narratives are presented to reveal the aspirations of the law students, the professors, and their fellow citizens such as the artisans. The study also explores the cultural implications of the city's Greek, Roman and then Syro-Phoenician heritage.

This book charts the formation of the French Civil Code, examining both its public and private effects. From the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, French private law was very different in the various parts of the country. In northern and central France, there were as many as sixty-five general customs in force, as well as over three hundred local customs, often differing from them in detail. As the feeling of nationhood grew, so did the idea of replacing the existing variety of laws by a single private law, possibly a code, common to all of France. 'A single body of law, called the Code Civil is to be created' proclaimed the Law of 21 March 1804, which was created by the amalgamation of thirty-six texts. The French Civil Code analyzes the Code using contemporary and modern sources, including the beautiful and concise extract from H.A.L. Fisher's History of Europe which gives an English historian's appraisal of Napoleon's contribution to the Code Civil. This text will appeal to all students of and those with an interest in international law.

This book charts the formation of the French Civil Code, examining both its public and private effects. From the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, French private law was very different in the various parts of the country. In northern and central France, there were as many as sixty-five general customs in force, as well as over three hundred local customs, often differing from them in detail. As the feeling of nationhood grew, so did the idea of replacing the existing variety of laws by a single private law, possibly a code, common to all of France. 'A single body of law, called the Code Civil is to be created' proclaimed the Law of 21 March 1804, which was created by the amalgamation of thirty-six texts. The French Civil Code analyzes the Code using contemporary and modern sources, including the beautiful and concise extract from H.A.L. Fisher's History of Europe which gives an English historian's appraisal of Napoleon's contribution to the Code Civil. This text will appeal to all students of and those with an interest in international law.

Modern Beirut was a city of major importance in the Roman world, as one the three main centers for the study of Roman law. For this study Linda Jones Hall exploits the numerous primary sources, including inscriptions, religious histories, literary references, legal codes, and archaeological reports, to present a composite history of late antique Berytus - from its founding as a Roman colony in the time of Augustus, to its development into a center of legal study under Justinian.
The book examines all aspects of life in the city, including geographical setting, economic base, built environment, political structures, religious transitions from paganism to Christianity, and the self-identity of the inhabitants in terms of ethnicity and occupation. The full texts of numerous narratives are presented to reveal the aspirations of the law students, the professors, and their fellow citizens such as the artisans. The study also explores the cultural implications of the city's Greek, Roman and then Syro-Phoencianheritage.
This volume provides the first detailed investigation of late antique Phoenicia, analyzing the governors' and inhabitants' perception of themselves as Phoenician rather than Syrian. Professor Jones Hall also looks at how religious affiliations are traced among pagans, Jews, and Christians. Though a study of the bishops and the churches, she shows that religious adherence was a much more complex issue that the simple Monophysite interpretation usually presented.

It is widely recognized that Roman law is an important source of information about women in the Roman world, and can present a more rounded and accurate picture than literary sources. This sourcebook fully exploits the rich legal material of the imperial period - from Augustus (31 BCE - 14 CE) to the end of the western Roman Empire (476 CE), incorporating both pagan and Christian eras, and explaining the rights women held under Roman law, the restrictions to which they were subject, and legal regulations on marriage, divorce and widowhood.

The notion and understanding of law penetrated society in Ancient Rome to a degree unparalleled in modern times. The poet Juvenal, for instance, described the virtuous man as a good soldier, faithful guardian, incorruptible judge and honest witness. This book is concerned with four central questions: Who made the law? Where did a Roman go to discover what the law was? How has the law survived to be known to us today? And what procedures were there for putting the law into effect? In this volume the origins of law and their relative weight are described in the light of developing Roman history. This is a text that may appeal to a wide range of readers: the law student for the study of the substantive law, and the student of history for a guide to what Roman law means as well as its value for the understanding and interpretation of Roman history.

The notion and understanding of law penetrated society in Ancient Rome to a degree unparalleled in modern times. The poet Juvenal, for instance, described the virtuous man as a good soldier, faithful guardian, incorruptible judge and honest witness.
This book is concerned with four central questions: Who made the law? Where did a Roman go to discover what the law was? How has the law survived to be known to us today? And what procedures were there for putting the law into effect? In The Sources of Roman Law, the origins of law and their relative weight are described in the light of developing Roman history. This is a topic that appeals to a wide range of readers: the law student will find illumination for the study of the substantive law; the student of history will be guided into an appreciation of what Roman law means as well as its value for the understanding and interpretation of Roman history. Both will find invaluable the description of how the sources have survived to inform our legal system and pose their problems for us.

Roman law is one of the key legal systems from which modern European law is derived. It is one of the binding factors par excellence within the European community, so it is useful for the new "Europeans" to have a sound knowledge of the historical background of Roman law. This book presents a survey of the history of Roman law. Olga Tellegen-Couperus divides the 1000 year long history of Roman law into four periods, based on political developments. For each period there is a general outline of the sources and then a description of the territory under Roman rule and the socio-economic situation. Then the political development is discussed. The last section of each chapter analyzes the law, and in particular, legislation, jurisdiction and legal science. The book offers a full introduction to the political and socio-economic background of Roman law and aims to give due attention to the topics which are currently debated in Romanist litereature.

The most important creation of the Romans was their law. In this book, Dr Tellegen-Couperus discusses the way in which the Roman jurists created and developed law and the way in which Roman law has come down to us. Special attention is given to questions such as `who were the jurists and their law schools' and to the close connection between jurists and the politics of their time.