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Medieval Roman law is the continuation and development of ancient
Roman law Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the '' Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor J ...
that developed in the European
Late Middle Ages The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Europe, the Ren ...
. Based on the ancient text of Roman law, ''
Corpus iuris civilis The ''Corpus Juris'' (or ''Iuris'') ''Civilis'' ("Body of Civil Law") is the modern name for a collection of fundamental works in jurisprudence, issued from 529 to 534 by order of Justinian I, Byzantine Emperor. It is also sometimes referred ...
'', it added many new concepts, and formed the basis of the later civil law systems that prevail in the vast majority of countries.


Rediscovery of ancient Roman law

Although some legal systems in southern Europe in the
Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...
, such as the Visigothic Code, retained some features of ancient Roman law, the main texts of Roman law were little known until the rediscovery of the ''
Digest Digest may refer to: Biology *Digestion of food *Restriction digest Literature and publications *'' The Digest'', formerly the English and Empire Digest *Digest size magazine format * ''Digest'' (Roman law), also known as ''Pandects'', a digest ...
'' in Italy in the late 11th century. It was soon apparent that the ''Digest'' was a massive intellectual achievement and that the assimilation of its contents would require much time and study. The first European university, the
University of Bologna The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in contin ...
, was set up in large part with the aim of studying it.


The era of the glossators

The ancient Roman law texts were not very explicit about matters of principle, and the commentators found it necessary to develop the
scholastic method Scholasticism was a medieval school of philosophy that employed a critical organic method of philosophical analysis predicated upon the Aristotelian 10 Categories. Christian scholasticism emerged within the monastic schools that translate ...
of comparing potentially conflicting texts and inferring principles that would explain the apparent contradictions. The commentators of the 12th and early 13th centuries, called glossators, such as
Azo of Bologna Azo of Bologna or Azzo or Azolenus ( 1150–1230) was an influential Italian jurist and a member of the school of the so-called glossators. Born circa 1150 in Bologna, Azo studied under Joannes Bassianus and became professor of civil law at Bo ...
and
Accursius __NOTOC__ Accursius (in Italian ''Accursio'' or ''Accorso di Bagnolo''; c. 11821263) was a Roman jurist. He is notable for his organization of the glosses, the medieval comments on Justinian's codification of Roman law, the ''Corpus Juris Civ ...
, produced large-scale harmonization of and commentary on the texts. They developed new concepts by reflecting on different related texts, such as the concept of half-proof in the law of evidence. Many of these glosses or interpretations, were compiled into one text around 1220 by Accursius. This text was known as the '' Glossa Ordinaria'' and was a compilation of the most important commentaries made by the glossators. Initially the rediscovered Roman law was not the law of any particular country or institution, but as lawyers trained in the concepts of Roman law came to dominate the legal profession, Roman law came to have an immense effect on law as actually practiced. For example,
torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts ...
was reintroduced into Europe as a means of acquiring evidence, usually when there was half-proof or more against a defendant but not yet sufficient proof for conviction. English law incorporated a substantial amount of Roman concepts through the works of Glanvill and Bracton. But it adopted the non-Roman
jury A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartial verdict (a finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Juries developed in England d ...
system as the main form of evidence evaluation, thus remaining less influenced by Roman law than continental systems. However, some English courts, such as the Court of Admiralty, operated on Roman law principles.
Canon law Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is t ...
, the law of the
Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
which governed such matters as marriage, developed in parallel with medieval Roman law and incorporated many of its concepts.


The era of the postglossators

The postglossators of the 14th century, such as Bartolus de Saxoferato and
Baldus de Ubaldis Baldus de Ubaldis (Italian: ''Baldo degli Ubaldi''; 1327 – 28 April 1400) was an Italian jurist, and a leading figure in Medieval Roman Law and the school of Postglossators. Life A member of the noble family of the Ubaldi (Baldeschi), ...
, developed a more mature and deeper legal theory, less closely tied to the ancient texts. That gave the law sufficient flexibility to incorporate new concepts. For example, the first printed book on
insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...
was the Roman law treatise ''On Insurance and Merchants' Bets'' by Pedro de Santarém (Santerna), written in 1488 and published in 1552.


Later influence

Roman law often acted (except in England) as a "common law" ( ius commune) that filled the gap where local laws were silent, as well as supplying principles of interpretation for those laws in doubtful cases. In this way, Scots law was heavily influenced by Roman law from the 15th century. Roman law was in part incorporated in later codifications of continental law such as the Napoleonic Code and hence formed a core of their successors, the civil law systems of modern European and other countries. Roman law also had wide influence on Western political theory. Questions such as the scope and limits of government and the permissibility of
tyrannicide Tyrannicide is the killing or assassination of a tyrant or unjust ruler, purportedly for the common good, and usually by one of the tyrant's subjects. Tyrannicide was legally permitted and encouraged in the Classical period. Often, the term tyr ...
were seen in legal terms and discussed by writers whose primary training was in law.Pennington, ''The Prince and the Law''; Canning, ''The Political Thought of Baldus de Ubaldis''. These ideas formed the basic of modern constitutionalism, the idea that government should be bound by fixed legal norms.


Bibliography

* Atzeri, Loren
''Roman Law and Reception''EGO - European History Online
Mainz
Institute of European History
2017, retrieved: March 8, 2021
pdf
. *Manlio Bellomo. ''The Common Legal Past of Europe, 1000-1800''. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 1995. * * * * *Tamar Herzog. ''A Short History of European Law: The Last Two and a Half Millennia''. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2018. *Randall Lesaffer. ''European Legal History: A Cultural and Political Perspective''. Trans. Jan Arriens. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. *Enrico Pattaro, ed. ''A Treatise of Legal Philosophy and General Jurisprudence''. 12 vols. Dordrecht–London–NY: Springer, 2006–16. **Andrea Padovani & Peter Stein, eds. ''A Treatise of Legal Philosophy and General Jurisprudence'', vol. 7: ''The Jurists’ Philosophy of Law from Rome to the Seventeenth Century''. Dordrecht–London–NY: Springer, 2016. **Damiano Canala, Paolo Grossi, & Hasso Hofmann, eds. ''A Treatise of Legal Philosophy and General Jurisprudence'', vol. 9: ''A History of the Philosophy of Law in the Civil Law World, 1600-1900''. Dordrecht–London–NY: Springer, 2009. * *Heikki Pihlajamaki et al., eds. ''The Oxford Handbook of European Legal History''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018. *O.F. Robinson et al. ''European Legal History: Sources and Institutions'', 3rd edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. * *Bart Wauters & Marco De Benito. ''The History of Law in Europe: An Introduction''. Edward Elgar, 2017.


References


External links



{{DEFAULTSORT:Medieval Roman Law Civil law legal systems Roman law Medieval law