Roman Law

Introductory
 Introductory
Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome.
It is the form of law that was developed by the Romans during their
1,000 - year empire starting in the 500 BC.
Roman law also denotes the legal system applied in most of the
Western Europe until the end of 18th century.
In Germany, practice of Roman law remained in place longer under
the Holy Roman Empire (963 – 1806).
Roman law served as a basis for legal practice throughout Western
continental Europe.
The English and North American common law were influenced by
the Roman law, notably in their Latinate legal glossary (for example,
stare decisis, culpa in contrahendo, pacta sunt servanda).
The Eastern Europe was also influenced by the jurisprudence of
Roman Law.
Roman law forms the basic framework for civil law, the most widely
used legal system today, and these two terms are often used
synonymously.
The historical significance of Roman law is reflected by the
continued use of Latin legal terminology in many legal systems
influenced by it, including the common law.
 Roman Law Today
Today, Roman law is no longer applied in legal practice, even though the
legal systems of some states like South Africa and San Marino are still
based on the old Ius Commune.
However, even where the legal practice is based on a code, many rules
deriving from Roman law apply: No code completely broke with the
Roman tradition.
Rather, the provisions of Roman law were fitted into a more coherent
system and expressed in the national language. For this reason, knowledge
of Roman law is indispensable to understand the legal systems of today.
Thus, Roman law is often still a mandatory subject for law students in civil
law jurisdictions.
As steps towards a unification of the private law in the member states of
the European Union are being taken, the old Ius Commune, which was the
common basis of legal practice everywhere, but allowed for many local
variants, is seen by many as a model.
 Roman law substances

Jus gentium: The jus gentium (Latin for ‘laws of nations’) is a

concept of international law within the ancient Roman legal system
and Western law traditions based on or influenced by it. The jus
gentium is not a body of statute law or a legal code, but rather
customary law thought to be held in common by all gentes
(‘peoples’ or ‘nations’) in ‘reasoned compliance with standards of
international conduct’.
Jus natural: Jus natural means the natural law, or law of nature;
law, or legal principles, supposed to be discoverable by the light of
nature or abstract reasoning, or to be taught by nature to all
nations and men alike; or law supposed to govern men and peoples
in a state of nature, i.e., in advance of organized governments or
enacted laws. The phrases ‘jus naturalc’ and ‘jus gentium’ came to
be used interchangeably.
Jus Civile: the rules and principles of law derived from the customs
and legislation of Rome, as opposed to those derived from the
customs of all nations (jus gentium) or from fundamental ideas of
right and wrong implicit in the human mind (jus naturale).
Jus scriptum: It is Latin for "written law". Ius scriptum was the body
of statute laws made by the legislature.
Jus non scriptum: It is Latin for "unwritten law". It contrasts with
the ius scriptum ("written law") by way of their sources (e.g. a
legislature, court judgments, or custom). The ius non scriptum was
the body of common laws that arose from customary practice. It
had become binding over time.
Jus single is Latin for "singular law". It was special law for certain
groups of people, things, or legal relations (because of which it is
an exception from the general principles of the legal system).
An example of this is the law about wills written by people in the
military during a campaign, which are exempt of the solemnities
generally required for citizens when writing wills in normal
circumstances.
It contrasts with the jus commune, the general, ordinary law. As
Roman law evolved into modern legal systems, the concept of ius
singulare was abandoned and ius commune was applied to all
cases.
Jus commune is Latin for "common law" in certain jurisdictions. It
is often used by civil law jurists to refer to those aspects of the civil
law system's invariant legal principles, sometimes called "the law
of the land" in English law.
Jus publicum and Jus privatum - jus publicum means public law and
ius privatum means private law, where public law is to protect the
interests of the Roman state while private law should protect
individuals.
In Roman law ius privatum included personal, property, civil and
criminal law; judicial proceeding was private process (judicium
privatum); and crimes were private (except the most severe ones
that were prosecuted by the state).
Public law will only include some areas of private law close to the
end of the Roman state.
Ius publicum was also used to describe obligatory legal regulations
(today called jus cogens — this term is applied in modern
international law to indicate peremptory norms that cannot be
derogated from).
Thank You!!!