|
 Roman
law was one of the most original products of the Roman mind.
From
the Law of the Twelve Tables, the first Roman code of law developed during
the early republic. The Roman legal system was characterized by a formalism
that lasted for more than 1,000 years.
The
basis for Roman law was the idea that the exact form, not the intention,
of words or of actions produced legal consequences. To ignore intention
may not seem fair from a modern perspective, but the Romans recognized
that there are witnesses to actions and words, but not to intentions.
Roman
civil law allowed great flexibility in adopting new ideas or extending
legal principles in the complex environment of the empire. Without replacing
older laws, the Romans developed alternative procedures that allowed greater
fairness. For example, a Roman was entitled by law to make a will as he
wished, but, if he did not leave his children at least 25 percent of his
property, the magistrate would grant them an action to have the will declared
invalid as an "irresponsible testament." Instead of simply changing
the law to avoid confusion, the Romans preferred to humanize a rigid system
by flexible adaptation.
Early
Roman law derived from custom and statutes, but the emperor asserted his
authority as the ultimate source of law. His edicts, judgments, administrative
instructions, and responses to petitions were all collected with the comments
of legal scholars. As one 3rd-century jurist said, "What pleases
the emperor has the force of law." As the law and scholarly commentaries
on it expanded, the need grew to codify and to regularize conflicting
opinions.
It
was not until much later in the 6th century AD that the emperor Justinian
I, who ruled over the Byzantine Empire in the east, began to publish a
comprehensive code of laws, collectively known as the Corpus Juris Civilis,
but more familiarly as the Justinian Code. |
