After the dissolution of the Western Roman Empire, Roman law remained in force in the Eastern Roman Empire. From the 7th century, the legal language in the East was Greek. The adaptation of the law to new needs has been entrusted to legal practice, judges and, above all, lenders. A praetor was not a legislator and technically did not create a new law when he issued his edicts (magistratuum edicta). In fact, the results of its judgments enjoyed legal protection (actionem dare) and were often the source of new laws. The successor of a praetor was not bound by the edicts of his predecessor; However, he adopted rules drawn from the edicts of his predecessor that had proved useful. In this way, a constant content was created, which went from edict to edict (Edictum traslatitium). Students who learned Roman law in Bologna (and later in many other places) found that many rules of Roman law were better suited to regulating complex economic transactions than the usual rules that applied throughout Europe. For this reason, Roman law, or at least some provisions borrowed from it, was reintroduced into legal practice centuries after the end of the Roman Empire. This process was actively supported by many kings and princes who employed university-trained jurists as advisors and court officials, trying to benefit from rules such as the famous Princeps legibus solutus est (“The ruler is not bound by the laws”, a term originally coined by Ulpian, a Roman jurist).
The practical application of Roman law and the era of the European ius commune ended with national codifications. In 1804, the French Civil Code came into force. During the 19th century, many European states adopted the French model or wrote their own codes. In Germany, the political situation has made it impossible to create a national code. Since the 17th century, Roman law in Germany has been heavily influenced by (customary) domestic law and has been called usus modernus Pandectarum. In some parts of Germany, Roman law continued to apply until the entry into force of the Civil Code (BGB) in 1900. [10] In practice, disputes were very often avoided by opposing parties taking an oath or insiurandum, but in the absence of such a settlement, judicial proceedings followed in which the plaintiff summoned 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.
The lawyers performed various functions: they prepared legal opinions at the request of private parties. They advised judges in charge of the administration of justice, especially praetors. They assisted the praetors in drafting their edicts in which they publicly announced, at the beginning of their mandate, how they would exercise their functions and the formulas according to which certain procedures were conducted. Some lawyers have also held high judicial and administrative positions themselves. In the Republic, the emphasis was more on the adaptation of existing laws by magistrates (ius honorarium) than on the creation of entirely new legislation. This was done especially in the annual Praetorian Edict (codified from 131 AD), when the types of admissible cases, defence and exceptions were described and an assessment of the previous year`s legal policy was made, making the necessary legal changes accordingly. In this way, it was the application of laws that could be adapted while the law itself remained unchanged, and so a series of case formulas accumulated to provide greater legal cover for the ever-changing situation of Roman society. For example, a fine could be increased to keep pace with inflation, but the legal principle of a fine for a specific offence remained unchanged. This allowed other officials, such as governors and military courts, to “interpret” the law and apply it on a case-by-case basis based on individual circumstances.
Rei vindicatio is an action by which the plaintiff demands that the defendant return something that belongs to him. It may only be used if the plaintiff is the owner of the thing and the defendant somehow interferes with the possession of the thing by the plaintiff. The plaintiff may also initiate an actio furti (personal action) to punish the defendant. If the case could not be restored, the plaintiff could claim damages from the defendant using condictio furtiva (a personal action). With the help of the actio legis Aquiliae (personal action), the plaintiff was able to claim damages from the defendant. Rei vindicatio was derived from ius civile and was therefore only available to Roman citizens. The corpus forms the basis of Latin jurisprudence (including canon law) and provides historians with valuable insight into the concerns and activities of the later Roman Empire. As a compendium, it brings together the many sources in which laws and other rules have been expressed or published (ordinary laws, senatorial consultations, imperial decrees, case law, and opinions and interpretations of jurists). It formed the basis of later Byzantine law, as expressed in the Basilica of Basil I and Leo VI.dem of the Magi. The only western province where the Justinian Codex was introduced was Italy, from where it passed to Western Europe in the 12th century and became the basis of many European legal systems. He eventually went to Eastern Europe, where he appeared in Slavic editions, and he also went to Russia. The first text of the law is the Law of the Twelve Tablets of the mid-fifth century BC.
The plebeian tribune, C. Terentilius Arsa, proposed writing the law to prevent judges from arbitrarily applying the law. [4] After eight years of political struggle, the plebeian social class convinced the patricians to send a delegation to Athens to copy Solon`s laws; For a similar reason, they also sent delegations to other Greek cities. [4] In 451 BC. According to traditional history (as Livy relates), ten Roman citizens were chosen to register the laws known as decemviri legibus scribundis. While performing this task, they were given supreme political power (imperium), while the power of magistrates was limited. [4] In 450 BC. The Decemviri produced the laws on ten tablets (tabulae), but these laws were considered unsatisfactory by the plebeians. A second decemvirate is said to have added two more tablets in 449 BC. The new Law of the Twelve Tablets has been approved by the People`s Assembly.
[4] Perhaps Emperor Justinian`s most important contribution was a unified Roman code. Before his reign, Roman laws differed from region to region, and many contradicted each other. The Romans had tried to systematize the code of law in the fifth century, but had not completed the effort. Justinian set up a commission of lawyers to compile a unique code that listed each law by subject so that it could be easily referenced. This not only served as the basis for law in the Byzantine Empire, but was also the main influence on the development of canon law by the Catholic Church and became the basis of law in many European countries. Justinian`s Code of Law still has a great influence on international law today. 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. Lawyers have also produced all sorts of legal sanctions.
Around 130 AD, the jurist Salvius Iulianus drafted a standard form of praetorian edict, which was used by all praetors from that time on. This edict contained detailed descriptions of all cases in which the praetor authorized a claim and in which he granted a defense. The standard edict thus functioned as a complete legal code, even if it did not formally have the force of law. He stressed the prerequisites for a successful trial. The edict thus became the basis for many legal commentaries by later classical jurists such as Paul and Ulpian. The new legal concepts and institutions developed by preclassical and classical jurists are too numerous to mention here.
