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.