1st Edition

Roman Law An Introduction

By Rafael Domingo Copyright 2018
    252 Pages
    by Routledge

    252 Pages
    by Routledge

    Roman Law: An Introduction offers a clear and accessible introduction to Roman law for students of any legal tradition. In the thousand years between the Law of the Twelve Tables and Justinian’s massive Codification, the Romans developed the most sophisticated and comprehensive secular legal system of Antiquity, which remains at the heart of the civil law tradition of Europe, Latin America, and some countries of Asia and Africa. Roman lawyers created new legal concepts, ideas, rules, and mechanisms that most Western legal systems still apply. The study of Roman law thus facilitates understanding among people of different cultures by inspiring a kind of legal common sense and breadth of knowledge.

    Based on over twenty-five years’ experience teaching Roman law, this volume offers a comprehensive examination of the subject, as well as a historical introduction which contextualizes the Roman legal system for students who have no familiarity with Latin or knowledge of Roman history. More than a compilation of legal facts, the book captures the defining characteristics and principal achievements of Roman legal culture through a millennium of development.

    Preface

    List of abbreviations

    Chronological Table

    Part One: Roman Law in Historical Context

    Chapter One: Basic Legal Concepts and Values

    Chapter Two: Constitutional Background of Roman Law

    Chapter Three: Sources of Roman Law

    Chapter Four: The Jurists and the Legal Science

    Chapter Five: Justinian and the Corpus Iuris

    Chapter Six: The Revival of Roman Law

    Part Two: Roman Law in Action

    Chapter Seven: Civil Litigation

    Chapter Eight: Family Law

    Chapter Nine: Property Law

    Chapter Ten: The Law of Succession

    Chapter Eleven: The Law of Obligations: Contracts

    Chapter Twelve: The Law of Obligations: Delicts

    Bibliography

    Index

    Biography

    Rafael Domingo (1963, PhD 1987) is the Spruill Family Research Professor at Emory University in Atlanta, USA, and ICS Professor of Law at the University of Navarra, Spain. A specialist in legal history, legal theory, ancient Roman law, and comparative law, he has authored and edited more than twenty books, including Auctoritas (1999), Juristas Universales (2004), The New Global Law (2010), God and the Secular Legal System (2016), and Great Christian Jurists in Spanish History (2018).

    "Rafael Domingo brings his considerable knowledge of Roman legal science and religion to this wonderfully clear and thorough introduction to Roman law." - Ernest Metzger, University of Glasgow, UK

     

    "Professor Domingo’s textbook is a concise and learned synthesis whose great merit is not only that it represents an important effort in making Roman law meaningful in the present for readers everywhere, but also that it emphasizes the unifying influence of Roman law in legal history." - Bryn Mawr Classical Review