In the mid-16th century, rediscovered Roman law dominated the legal practice of many European countries. A legal system had emerged in which Roman law blended with elements of canon law and Germanic custom, especially feudal law. This legal system, which was common throughout continental Europe (and Scotland), was called the Ius Commune. This ius commune and the legal systems derived from it are commonly referred to as civil law in English-speaking countries. The surviving fragments show that it was not a legal code in the modern sense of the term. It did not contain a complete and coherent system of all applicable rules, nor legal solutions for all possible cases. On the contrary, the tables contain specific provisions modifying customary law existing at the time. Although the provisions cover all areas of law, most of them are devoted to private law and civil procedure. As for England, it did not adopt Roman law like the rest of the European countries. Roman rules never had the force of law in the country, although they were taught at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. However, certain substantive rules, concepts and modes of reasoning, which were based on the Roman legal tradition, strongly influenced the English legal system with regard to it. This is because Roman law also offers specificity and power: it has the ability to reduce a problem to one or two sentences and develop a rule.
This makes it very similar to Anglo-Saxon law, on which the English legal system is based. Unlike the legal system of continental Europe, the Anglo-Saxon legal system, also known as the common law system, is based on judicial decision-making power, which gives previous judicial decisions the authority of a precedent. The fundamental principle here is that it is unfair to treat similar situations differently on different occasions. After some resistance from the patricians, a committee produced 12 bronze tablets, which together contained the first law of Rome. This code, called the Twelve Tables, documents important legal concepts such as: The Roman law system evolved during the continued existence of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Between 753-31 BC. AD, the ius civile (civil law) was developed. This legislation applied exclusively to Roman citizens. However, there have been many cases where foreigners have also been involved.
These cases were adjusted by different judges and governors, so a different type of law was needed. This other type of jurisdiction was then called jus gentium (international law) and applied to both the Romans themselves and foreigners. It became a flexible alternative to the ius civile used by magistrates. Jus gentium consisted essentially of the following elements: 1. the existing commercial law applied by Mediterranean traders; 2. institutions of civil law that could be universally applied; 3. The judge`s sense of what is fair or equitable. In the 3rd century AD, when citizenship was extended to the entire empire, the practical differences between ius civile and ius gentium ceased to exist.
The term jus gentium has been given a more general meaning, referring to the same legal outcomes, whether or not the parties involved are citizens. Only England and the Nordic countries did not participate in the full reception of Roman law. One reason for this is that at the time of the rediscovery of Roman law, the English legal system was more developed than its continental counterparts. As a result, the practical benefits of Roman law were less obvious to English practitioners than to continental jurists. As a result, the English common law system developed alongside Roman civil law, its practitioners being trained at the Inns of Court in London, rather than obtaining degrees in canon or civil law at the universities of Oxford or Cambridge. Elements of Roman canon law were present in England in ecclesiastical courts and, less directly, through the development of the judicial system. In addition, some concepts of Roman law have found their way into the common law. Especially in the early 19th century, English jurists and judges were ready to adopt the rules and ideas of continental jurists and directly Roman law. To describe a person`s position in the legal system, the Romans mainly used the term togeus.
The individual could have been a Roman citizen (status civitatis) as opposed to foreigners, or he could have been free (status libertatis) as opposed to slaves, or he could have held a certain position in a Roman family (status familiae), either as head of the family (pater familias) or as a lower member – alieni iuris – living according to someone else`s law. Two types of status were senator and emperor. The rulers also tried to use the law to consolidate their own power and expand their own royal administration. Knowledge of law created opportunities and positions in government were eventually filled by men with a good education and understanding of Roman law. They then collected collections of unwritten customs, presided over the courts, and designed statues. In this way, Roman law permeated legal systems throughout the Roman Empire. Today, Roman law is no longer applied in legal practice, although the legal systems of some countries such as South Africa and San Marino are still based on the former municipality of ius. But even when legal practice is based on a code, many rules derived from Roman law apply: no code has completely broken with Roman tradition. On the contrary, the provisions of Roman law have been inserted into a more coherent system and expressed in the national language. For this reason, knowledge of Roman law is essential to understanding today`s legal systems. Thus, Roman law is often still a compulsory subject for law students in civil law jurisdictions. In this context, the Moot Court of International Law has been developed annually to better educate students and to network with each other internationally.
[12] [13] [14] “Jus eat ars boni et aquaâ” The law is the art of goodness and justice. This is how the Roman jurist Celsus defined law. This definition represents and embraces the desires of the Roman people and their will to create and implement laws, a desire that actually managed to completely transcend the limits of time and reach the modern world as we know it today. Roman law is the stable foundation on which modern legal culture as a whole has developed and evolved. The civil law system is based on late Roman law and its most distinctive feature – that its fundamental principles are codified in a system that serves as the main source of law. Around 570 BC. A.D., the Romans created the praetor system to settle conflicts. It has largely replaced the role of families and fathers in the legal system. Under the new system, the praetor, a powerful government official, received and investigated written complaints from citizens. The praetor decided whether or not to authorize a trial before a judge. The plaintiff, the person who filed the application and the defendant then presented their evidence to the judge. In the end, the lender decided the case and ordered reparation or compensation in case the plaintiff was successful.
The praetor system treated crimes in the same way. Perhaps one of the greatest advantages of Roman law and its legal systems was that as the empire grew and the population became more diverse, the law and its protection of citizens acted as a binding force for communities, promoting the expectation that a citizen`s rights (and over time even the rights of a non-citizen) would be respected and that a system was in place. could be redressed by injustice. In addition, the Romans transmitted to us not only many legal concepts that are still used today in the field of jurisprudence, but also their passion and expertise for precise and accurate legal terminology to avoid ambiguities or even misinterpretations of the law, an approach that all modern legal documents try to emulate. Another important law of the Republican era is the Lex Aquilia of 286 BC. J.-C., which can be considered the root of modern tort law. Rome`s most important contribution to European legal culture, however, was not the enactment of well-drafted laws, but the emergence of a class of professional jurists (prudent, sing. prudens or jurisprudent) and jurisprudence.
This was achieved in a gradual process of applying the scientific methods of Greek philosophy to the subject of law, a subject that the Greeks themselves never treated as a science. In practice, disputes were very often avoided by opposing parties taking an oath or insiurandum, but if no settlement was reached, legal proceedings followed in which the plaintiff appealed the defendant to court (civil cases: iudicia publica or for criminal cases: quaestiones). The first step in most court cases was when the parties involved appeared before a judge who decided the point of law in question and either dismissed the case as a matter of legal intervention (denegatio actiomis) or appointed an official (iudex datus) to hear and judge the case. When both parties agreed to the judge`s assessment, the case was heard by IUDEX, which took a decision on behalf of the State. The defendant and plaintiff had to represent themselves at the hearing, as this was not a system of legal representation. If the defendant loses a civil case, there is a conviction and he must pay a sum of money (litis aestimatio), which is usually determined by IUDEX and can cover the original value of the goods or damages suffered by the plaintiff. In the Western world, only England, its colonies and the Scandinavian countries developed legal systems different from those of ancient Rome. But even these countries owe a debt of gratitude to the Romans for creating many legal concepts, principles, and rights that govern the lives of their citizens today. The family law of the Roman Republic sets the minimum age of marriage at 14 years for men and 12 years for women. No formal ceremony, religious or otherwise, was necessary.