M2 T1 The Continental legal tradition: origin Roman Law

Question 1

What is the basis of continental law?

Answer 1

Roman law

Question 2

What are three reasons for legal unity in Western Europe?

Answer 2

1. Shared judicial concepts
2. Similarity of institutions
3. Proximity in modes of reasoning

Question 3

Under what influence did most European live during the Roman Empire?

Answer 3

Roman civilization and Roman law

Question 4

The Roman Empire was the first civilization to turn law into….

Answer 4

juridical science

Question 5

What are the three stages of development in the history of Rome?

Answer 5

1. Archaic era
2. The Republic
3. The Empire

Question 6

Characteristics of the Archaic era

Answer 6

1. Priests held the monopoly on the law
2. Usage and customs were the basis of legal activity
3. Law was a collection of rules with solutions for particular cases. There were no legal connections

Question 7

Characteristics of The Republic

Answer 7

1. Legal activities passed to laymen and included new topics
2. Jurisprudence was a major source of law
3. Minimal legislative intervention by the state.
4. Development of empirical law made up of ad-hoc rules with individual solutions for each dispute.

Question 8

what are laymen?

Answer 8

1. Non-ordained member of a church

2. Person without specialized knowledge in a particular subject

Question 9

Characteristics of The Empire

Answer 9

1. The number of ad-hoc provisions produced confusion and disorder
2. Expansion of the Roman power to the Mediterranean increased litigation and matters to be regulated
3. Romans proposed to systematize the multitude of particular regulations after the influence of Greek culture on grammar, logic, and geometry

Question 10

three steps in the process of systematization

Answer 10

1. Analysis of cases and solutions
2. Establishment of relationships. Formulation of classification.
3. Extraction of general and abstract principles.

Question 11

What did the systematization of Roman law result in?

Answer 11

The creation of organized, precise, and rigorous law.

Question 12

Two examples of systematization of the Roman law

Answer 12

1. The study of different contracts was accumulated into one General Theory of Contracts
2. The various relations between a person and a thing became the law of property.

Question 13

The division of the Roma Empire 293 AD

Answer 13

Diocletian established the Tetrarchy by dividing it into the East and West governed by Augustuses and two subordinates called Caesars.

Question 14

the Roma Empire 326 AD

Answer 14

Constantin restores the single Empire

Question 15

The division of the Roma Empire 395 AD

Answer 15

Theodosius shared the empire between his two sons. West and East remain separate.

Question 16

What legal developments happened under Emperor Justinian in the Eastern Empire in the 6th Century AD?

Answer 16

A juridical commission was tasked to compile the whole Roman law created up until then and to use this to create a unitary codex of laws that reflected the juridical reality of the time.

Make law practical and accessible.

Question 17

What are two fundamental ideas to the importance of the unitary codex of laws under Emperor Justinian in the development of the continental law?

Answer 17

1. One single work collecting Justinian, Roman law and jurisprudence
2. The Discovery of Corpus Iuris Civilis five centuries later in Western Europe enabled the construction of a Iuris Commune

Question 18

What did the Discovery of the Corpus Iuris Civilis enable?

Answer 18

The construction of an Iuris Commune: a common basis for the establishment of continental legal science

Question 19

The Corpus Iuris Civilis consists of:

Answer 19

A codex: 12 books with imperial laws know as constitutions

A Digesta: 50 books with main fragments of the main classical Roman Jurist.

Institutiones: 4 textbooks for students of law.

Novellae: New imperial law issued between 529 AD and 565 AD.

Question 20

Is the Corpus a unitary work?

Answer 20

No. The 4 books are distinguishable

Question 21

When was the Corpus rediscovered and given its name?

Answer 21

11th century

Question 22

The Corpus is known to be the…

Answer 22

greatest legal document in all history

Question 23

What was the Basilikâ?

Answer 23

The resulting work of emperor Leo VI in the Byzantine empire that replaced the Corpus.

Question 24

What reorganization took place in the Byzantine empire under emperor Leo VI?

Answer 24

Adaptation of Justinian Roman law to fit legal circumstances of the time. Books of the Corpus were rearranged, simplified, and translated to Greek.

Question 25

To where did the Basilikâ spread?

Answer 25

Russia, Balkans, lands further than the Caucasus and Arab people of Eastern Mediterranean until the fall of Constantinople

Question 26

What law was stratified over Byzantine law after the fall of Constantinople?

Answer 26

Islamic law, and returned to the continental legal tradition in the end of the 19th century

Question 27

To whom did the Western Roman Empire fell in 476 AD?

Answer 27

Germanic tribes

Question 28

What happened to the law of the fallen Western Roman Empire?

Answer 28

The conquered people remained under Roman Law, but the fall of the important institutions deteriorated the system. Medieval jurists simplified the Roman legal concepts.

Question 29

What happened to the Roman law of properties in the western Roman empire after its fall?

Answer 29

It was simplified to a general concept of the enjoyment of property.

Question 30

What was the Principle of the personality of law during the cohabitation between the Romans and the Germanics?

Answer 30

Each person was a subject to the law governing his/her community irrespective of territory

Question 31

Which two legal systems coexisted in Hispania in 412 AD?

Answer 31

1. Roman Law | 2. Undeveloped Germanic Customs

Question 32

What laws were developed under the promulgation of a summary of laws applicable to inhabitants of the Visigoth territory in 506 AD?

Answer 32

1. Lex Romana Wisigothum (Roman Law-conquered population) | 2. Lex Barbarum: (Roman law. conquering population of Germanic origin.)

Question 33

What did the Lex Romana Wisigothum, also known as Breviary of Alaric, represent?

Answer 33

The only codifying enterprise of the time. It spread across Europe.

Question 34

What is considered the Western Corpus Iuris Civilis due to its value in the continuation of Roman Law?

Answer 34

Lex Romana Wisigothum

Question 35

What succeeded the principle of personality?

Answer 35

Principle of territoriality of laws- Sole body of laws governing a given territory

Question 36

What replaced Lex Romana Wisigothum and Lex Barbarum in 554 AD as a codex of laws applied in the Iberian Peninsula during the Reign of Visigoths?

Answer 36

Lex Wisigothorum (Fuera Juzgo/Liber Iudiciorum)

Question 37

What are the two bodies of law that we saw evolved in the Eastern Roman Empire?

Answer 37

1. Corpus Iusir Civilis | 2. Basilikâ

Question 38

What are the two bodies of law that we saw evolved in the Western Roman Empire?

Answer 38

1. Lex Romana Wisigothum (Breviary of Alaric) | 2. Lex Wisigothorum (Fuera Juzgo)