1.

Introduction:
Roman law was the law of the city of Rome and subsequently of the Roman Empire.
The influence of Roman law on modern legal systems has been immense: legal
systems of the world have been shaped significantly - directly or indirectly - by
concepts of Roman law.
The development of Roman law comprises more than a thousand years of
jurisprudence which developed in different phases. A high-watermark in Roman
jurisprudence was the Corpus Juris Civilis (529-34 AD) drafted under the direct
guidance of Emperor Justinian 1. The Corpus Iuris Civilis is a remarkable legacy from
a remarkable era in legal history.
Five and a half centuries after the emperor Justinian and centuries after the decline
of the Roman Empire, the ‘jurisprudence’ of Rome was ‘revived’ - partly by being
studied in the universities of Northern Italy from the eleventh century onwards.
Nicholas, in his book, An Introduction to Roman Law, noted that this phase of Roman
law ‘gave to almost the whole of Europe a common stock of legal ideas,common
grammar of legal thought and, to a varying but considerableextent, a common mass
of legal rules.’
Although many have argued that England stood out against the ‘reception’ or
‘revival’ of Roman law and retained its own Common law – it is accepted now that
the Common law too has been, to a considerable extent, influenced by Roman law.
Today, there are two great legal systems in the world of European origin – the
Common law of England (influenced to a certain extent only by Roman law) and the
Civil law of continental Europe shaped largely by the ‘revived’ Roman law. The
Common law is the basis of the legal systems of most English speaking nations. The
Civil law is the basis of the legal systems of countries on the continent of Europe
and countries in South America and elsewhere. The other great non-European legal
systems, the Hindu and the Mohammedan, are largely religious based.
Students of law will be familiar with the concepts of, and distinctions between,
public law and private law. Public law relates to the regulation of the state:
constitutional law is described as a branch of public law. Private law regulates legal
relationships among individuals and the greatest influence of Roman law has been in
the sphere of private law and this paper is confined to this aspect of law.

2. Stages of Roman History:

From around 510 BC, the Roman Republic developed as a small city-state. By 272
BC, following a period of territorial expansion, Rome’s control over Italy was almost
complete. In two wars (264-241 BC, 218-201 BC) Carthage, a rival for the Central
Western Mediterranean, was eventually defeated. Subsequently Rome was at war
with the East. Territorial expansion in the second century BC changed the face of

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Italy from small farming holdings to large estates with slave labour. Over a period of
time, a professional army became mobilised. This enhanced the power of ambitious
generals and set a pattern.
After much strife, a period of peace and stability commenced c. 27 BC and Octavian,
known as Augustus, restored constitutional government and the Empire took shape.
Around this time, all the territory surrounding the Mediterranean and territory far
beyond the Mediterranean was part of the Roman Empire. By the first century AD,
the Roman Empire extended to Britain and Dacia – equivalent to modern Romania.
However, Rome failed to hold north of the Danube, the territory occupied by the
Germanic peoples. In later times, the Germanic peoples were to overthrow the
Roman Empire.

3. Necessity of Studying Roman law in 21st Century:

In spite of the progress of legal education in thelast decade there still lingers in some places
thatnow time-worn belief that a knowledge ofRoman law is of no use at all in the legal
profession.
This view of the present value of Roman law isobviously superficial. It is based on the
assumptionthat because the Roman state and tribunals perished centuries ago, therefore
Roman law itself haslong been dead also. But this conception of the fateof Roman law is
historically inaccurate and false.The spirit of Roman law did not die-on the contrary it is still
very much alive in our midst. It was the majestic and beneficent Roman law which more
than any other single element brought civilization back to Europe following the barbaric
deluge of the Dark Age .From Rome we have inherited the conception ofLaw itself, of the
State, and of the Family. Thehigh, firm, secure, legal position of women in European and
American civilization, which makes ourcivilization superior to all other types, is a legacyfrom
the Roman law.' The Civil Law was the firstto work out and recognize the equality of
woman'with man.
The inability of the superficial observer to discernthe living Roman law of today is on
account of itsmodern dress: instead of its ancient sixth centuryLatin garb, Roman law is now
clothed in twentieth one century dresses of various patterns, such as theRoman-German
law, the Roman-French law, and theRoman-English law. The past and present in lawyer
inexplicably woven together.
But it may be argued that, admitting the survivalof Roman law into all modern legal systems,
whatactual concrete, present or future professional ad-vantages can now be derived from
the study ofRoman law? The answer is that Roman law shouldbe studied fervently with a
view to the bettermentof our American law, which sadly needs improvement and which in
so many respects particularlyby its lack of codification-is greatly inferior toother modern
legal systems. Our system of precedents and case-reports is breaking down from itsown
weight and is becoming decadent: how soonmust codification take its place? We must study

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Roman law with this aim in view, as have the Frenchand Germans, if we wish our law to
attain foremost rank its proper stationin the modern wold.

3.1 The Legal Literature Which Influenced in modern day:

In order to survive, the new Roman-Germanic societies had to continue managing within the
existing bureaucratic structures. These included the laws and decrees of the late Empire.
This "immaterial baggage" had, however, shrunk considerably in the interim between the
fall of the Empire and the establishment of the western kingdoms. By far, the most
important legal sources in the Early Middle Ages were the enactments of the Byzantine
emperors together with some relics or epitomes of elementary legal literature. These
epitomes included an excerpt from an elementary legal handbook dating from around 300
A.D. (the Sententiae Pault); a crude adaptation of Gaius' famous textbook (the Epitome Gal);
various late commentaries orignating from the elementary instruction of provincial
functionaries (interpretationes); and, lastly, a few collections of specimen deeds. 19 The law
contained in this meager assortment is referred to as "Roman vulgar law." Nevertheless, the
command of even these humble leftovers required the mastery of some basic intellectual
skills. Included among these skills were reading and writing, the organization and
preservation of documents, and the drafting of statutes, court decisions, protocols (gesta,
acta), wills and contracts of sale. These skills could only be passed on to a new generation
where antique elementary education, especially the trivium (grammar, logic and rhetoric),
had been preserved. Only those who were taught in these schools were literate and, thus,
capable of writing down the statutes, administrative acts and decisions that were necessary
to establish an organizational framework for the new communities.
Thus, those who were literate possessed a monopoly of all those positions in government,
secular and ecclesiastical administration and the administration of justice which required
the ability to read and to write and to perform basic bureaucratic tasks. These literates, in
other words, had the exclusive control of the drafting of laws and of all records concerning
accounting, taxes and fees and control of all those transactions which required notarization
either for reasons of expediency or because notarization was legally required. While the
leading literates and functionaries were originally recruited from the class of Roman
provincial landlords (possessores), most of whom had senatorial rank, these tasks were
ultimately left almost entirely to the higher functionaries of the Church. These churchmen
became the backbone of the new Roman Germanic states after the extinction of paganism
and Arianism.

3.2 The Ethical Value of Roman Law.

Of inestimable educational advantage is the ethical value ofRoman law study. An
acquaintance with the loftiestsystem of jurisprudence the world has ever seencannot fail to
give first of all an enormous upliftto character. The Roman jurists breathed deeplythe pure

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air of ethics: they taught the never to beforgotten truth that law and ethics are very
closelyrelated.
What the world needs today is not more law, butmore justice. The great danger to our
professionis that its ideals are in peril of becoming commercialized. In other words the
practice of law is indanger of becoming a mere trade and losing its professional nobility thus
accurately described by theRoman jurist Ulpian: "When a man means to givehis attention to
law he ought first to know whencethe term 'law' is derived. Now law is so called fromjustice:
in fact it is the art of what is good and fair.
Of this art we may deservedly be calledthe priests; we cherish justice and profess
theknowledge of what is good and fair, we separatewhat is fair from what is unfair, we
discriminatebetween what is allowed and what is forbidden, wedesire to make men good,
not only by putting themin fear of penalties, but also by appealing to themthrough rewards,
proceeding, if I am not mistaken,on a real and not a pretentedphilosophy”.
To conceive of the value of knowledge as basedupon its utility for the acquisition of wealth
ormaterial success is to completely overlook the chiefpurpose in all education-namely, the
developmentof character as well as intellect. Or as Plato said:"The curriculum should be
adapted in the mostperfect manner for the promotion of virtue," atruth which Milton re-
stated twenty centuries interwhen he defined education as "that which fits a man to
perform justly and magnanimously as well asskilfully all the offices of life, both public and
private." How pertinent all this is when we turn tolegal education! The ideal lawyer is not
one whohas obtained the best legal equipment for the practice of his profession, if that
professional traininghas not developed his character along the lines ofwhat is just and right.

3.3 The Intellectual Value of Roman Law.

A cursory study of Roman law reveals the greatextentof the debt of our law to it. The
American law of Admiralty, of Wills and Probate, can showa direct descent from the
imperial jurisprudence ofRome. From the Civil Law, Lord Mansfield introduced into English
Common Law our Law Merchantor mercantile law. The basic principles of Equityare of Civil
Law origin. The fundamental doctrinesof our law of Persons (including Corporations),and of
Property (especially Obligations, Contractsand Successions) came from the Roman law.
Henceit is true that knowledge'of Roman law is knowledgeof our own law, for the Civil Law
is a constituentpart of our jurisprudence.
The intellectual value of Roman law is rapidlybeing recognized by American law schools.
Roman law is now studied in such leading law schools asHarvard, Yale, Columbia, Chicago,
Pennsylvania,Stanford. And the Institutes of Justinian, as inEngland, are now a required
study for admission tothe Bar in the American States of Louisiana andKansas.
Moreover Roman law not only throws a greatlight upon, but has answered for all time that
vexedquestion of the right method of law study. Thewonderful acumen and thorough
training of theRoman lawyer were thus acquired. He began andspent nearly all of his first
year of work by studyon elementary legal treatises. The Institutes ofGains and of Justinian

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are models of precision andlucidity with which we have nothing to compare inEnglish law. In
his second and third years theRoman law student devoted himself to the studyof leading,
illustrative cases in all branches of thelaw. The Digest and Code of Justinian are repletewith
reported decisions of cases. The Yale methodof law study closely resembles the Roman: first
thestudy of legal treatises, and then the study of cases.To study law by cases did not
originate in theUnited States in recent times.
There is also a very practical side to the intellectual value of Roman law study in that it
greatlyassists the acquisition of a correct style of legalexpression. Does not the possession
of a correctstyle help a lawyer? The style of the Roman juristis simple, clear, brief, terse,
nervous and precise.In the matter of legal expression Roman jurisprudence is far superior to
the Anglo-American, and isworthy of imitation in this respect. It should notbe forgotten that
"Law," as Sir Henry Maine says,"is the chief branch of Latin literature; it was theonly
literature of the Romans which has any claimto originality; it was the only part of their
literaturein which the Romans themselves took any stronginterest and it is the one part
which has profoundlyinfluenced modern thought."
There is another educational benefit of great intellectual value derivable from Roman law
study,-thecomplete comprehension of the trite nature of privatelaw. The Romans were the
first "to perfect a completed system of private law,"-a jurisprudencewhich has best
approximated the conception of whatprivate law would be if the legislator were perfectly
wise.
But the intellectual value of Roman law studyoffers another liberalizing opportunity: it leads
tothe comparison of Roman and Anglo-American law.It is a great privilege which we have of
placingRoman and our law side by side for parallel comparison in order to cultivate the
philosophical spiritof inquiry. This results in stamping upon thememory that law is the
subject of a science. Forinstance, it is truly scientific to study the centralizing movements of
the Roman law in order to throwlight upon the question of how to behave with regard to
the tendency in the United States to centralize the constitutional power of the Federal
Union.
Again, in dealing with rules of private law, ifthe American and Roman rules as to a doctrine
oflaw differ, the student is led to ask why: this giveshim a better view of the origin and
range of theAmerican rule by perceiving wherein it varies fromthe Roman, or perhaps the
Roman rule will seem themore just. Moreover, there is a most useful fieldfor comparative
study of Roman and Anglo-American law along this line,-to observe the effects uponeach
jurisprudence of the different conditions ofsociety under which the Roman and English
systemsdeveloped. For Roman law was the product of ahighly civilized people secure for
centuries in theenjoyment of peace within their borders; while theEnglish Common Law is
the product of a peopleemerging from barbaric conditions of society, fondof strife-it is non-
philosophical and ethicallyharsh, the very opposite of Roman law.

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 3.4 Modern Historical Consciousness
In western, southern and central Europe, Roman law has always been a subject taught by
our faculties of law because it provides the necessary background for interpreting our own
civil law. But the present crisis in matters of historical consciousness has had negative
effects on the study of Roman law. The reasons for that crisis are obvious. We have entered
an era of greater
control of nature and futurist social planning. The Atlantic-European civilization has been
transformed into a world civilization of" older" and "younger" nations. Similarly, there is the
educational explosion which has made it necessary for many nations to offer the
opportunity of elementary and specialized education to millions of young people; this
development has led to
a critical questioning of classical education. The humanistic study of the ancient languages,
the classical systems of philosophy, idealistic historiography and even classical Newtonian
physics are undergoing a new evaluation. Roman law belongs to this classical tradition. I will
not elaborate, however, on this educational and social trend for two reasons. First, growing
criticism of one-sided technical specialization everywhere has brought forth a stronger
interest in history. Thus, apologies for Roman law which I found necessary ten years ago
before German and other European audiences would sound anachronistic today. Second, an
apology of this kind is of minor interest in this country where Roman law was never in force,
and was therefore not cultivated in connection with law but in connection with the classics,
because of its obvious relevance to the economic and social history of antiquity.
Consequently, I will simply point out the value which the study of Roman law can have for
the student and graduate.

3.5 Other Professional Advantages.-

For a twenty one century lawyer who wishes to reach the frontrank of his profession an
acquaintance with theCivil Law forms today a highly important elementof his necessary legal
equipment, and will have tobe obtained either before or after admission to thebar. We have
already noticed the great debt ofAnglo-American law to the law of Rome, and
thatknowledge of the Roman law is knowledge of ourown law. More than this, as a country
we are nowrepeating the activity of Rome in legislation. Thedevelopment of our American
law into jurisprudence has been, especially during the last centuryand a half, most usually
by a return to the Civil Law of Rome. And this returning is still in progress.
The most striking illustrations-and there aremany-are these three: (1) The feudal
CommonLaw ideal that husband and wife are one and thatthat one is the husband, has been
repudiated innearly all American States. Married women havenow restored to them the
power to control theirseparateproperty independently of their husbands.And this is simply
the re-enactment of the doctrineof Roman law as to the freedom of married women.(2)
Every American State has laws of inheritancesimilar to those of Rome. (3) The most
pressingterrible necessity of our times is how to frame outof the gigantic mass of our
reported case law amonrglanized body of rules,-in other words how tocodify our law. All

6
civilized countries of the worldexcept Great :Britain and the United States, havefollowed the
example of Rome and codified theirlaw,-France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Austria, the6Lamtin-
American States and Japan have adopted theRoman Emperor Justinian's solution of this
problem Our lawyers are being driven-whether theylike it or not-to examine the means and
results ofcodification. In the future-the immediate future-those in the legal profession who
can do thiswork will reap its rewards.
But a knowledge of Roman law is bringing fromanother direction a professional advantage
whichis constantly increasing.. Speedy and frequent communication makes the world
rapidly grow smallerLaw business of an international character is onthe increase in our large
cities, especially thosealong the Atlantic seaboard. Not only does Romanlaw throw light
upon many of the doctrines of international law, but it is the key which unlocks thelegal
systems of the modern continental Europe asembodied in their Modern Codes. These codes
havebeen imitated in the New World and in Asia. Theprofessional benefit arising from a
familiarity withthe Modern Codes is self-evident.

4. My opinion:
The Romans had the first truly advanced legal system, and Roman law principles and
doctrine are littered throughout English law. The Roman concept of usucapio is almost
identical to the English land law doctrine of adverse possession, and similar to prescription
in public international law, while the Roman concept of
consensus ad idem reflects conceptually what Thesiger in Household Fire and Carriage
Accident Insurance Co Ltd v Grant described as “practically the foundation of English law
upon the subject of the formation of contracts”.
Many Roman law doctrines and maxims to be used in English legal cases today, making it
vital for students. For example, in the case of
Star Energy Weald Basin Ltd v Bocardo SA , Lord Hope referred to, and applied, the civil law
maxim cuiusestsolum, eiusestusque ad coelum et ad ifernos.

5. Conclusion:
Roman law not obviously confined to the City of Rome or to a peninsula but the
genius of minds from many lands has left many legacies on the legal systems of the
world. The Emperor Justinian, building on earlier jurists, codified in a structured
written form a sophisticated system of law by means of the Digest, Codex and the
Institutes. This codified system of law has influenced most of the Civil law world.
The concepts inherent in the legal order comprised in the iusnaturale and iusgentium,
intended to extend beyond national borders, are today the cornerstones of human
rights law and international law throughout the world. The influence of Roman law
on the Common law has also been significant.

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Reference

1. Franz Wieacker, The Importance of Roman Law for Western Civilization and Western
Legal Thought, 4. B.C.
2. Edward D. Re, The Roman Contribution to theworld , 29 Fordham L. Rev. 447 (1961).
Available at: http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr/vol29/iss3/2
3. Dr Eamonn G HallNotary Public “ An introduction to Roman law and its
contribution to the world “
4. Sherman, Charles P., "The Value of Roman Law to the American Lawyer of Today"
(1912). Faculty Scholarship Series. Paper 4440.
http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/fss_papers/4440
5. The Importance of Roman Law for Western Civilization and Western ”journal of daily
star newspaper”.
6. http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/iclr

7. P. VINOGRADOFF, ROMAN LAW IN MEDIEVAL EUROPE (1909, 3d ed. 1961). [For a

survey of more recent work Stt Donahue, Till Civil Law in England, 84 YALE L..J. 167
(1974). Ed.]