The Idea of Roman Jurisprudence
IT WAS THE MOST ADVANCED JUSTICE CODE FOR MANY CENTURIES.
Ancient History Sourcebook:
Edward Gibbon:
The Idea of Roman Jurisprudence
The Idea of Roman Jurisprudence
Edward Gibbon:
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
Chapter XLIV : Idea Of The Roman Jurisprudence.Volume IV.
-- The Laws Of The Kings --
The Twelve Of The Decemvirs.
-- The Laws Of The People. --
The Decrees Of The Senate.
-- The Edicts Of The Magistrates And Emperors -- Authority Of The Civilians.
-- Code, Pandects, Novels, And Institutes Of Justinian:
-- I. Rights Of Persons.
-- II. Rights Of Things.
-- III. Private Injuries And Actions.
-- IV. Crimes And Punishments.
The vain titles of the victories of Justinian are crumbled into dust; but the name of the legislator is inscribed on a fair and everlasting monument. Under his reign, and by his care, the civil jurisprudence was digested in the immortal works of the CODE,
the PANDECTS, and the INSTITUTES: the public reason of the Romans has been silently or studiously transfused into the domestic institutions of Europe, and the laws of Justinian still command the respect or obedience of independent nations.
Wise or fortunate is the prince who connects his own reputation with the honor or interest of a perpetual order of men. The defense of their founder is the first cause, which in every age has exercised the zeal and industry of the civilians.
They piously commemorate his virtues; dissemble or deny his failings; and fiercely chastise the guilt or folly of the rebels, who presume to sully the majesty of the purple. The idolatry of love has provoked, as it usually happens, the rancor of opposition; the character of Justinian has been exposed to the blind vehemence of flattery and invective; and the injustice of a sect (the Anti-Tribonians) has refused all praise and merit to the prince, his ministers, and his laws.
Attached to no party, interested only for the truth and candor of history, and directed by the most temperate and skilful guides, I enter with just diffidence on the subject of Civil Law, which has exhausted so many learned lives, and clothed the walls of such spacious libraries. In a single, if possible in a short, chapter, I shall trace the Roman Jurisprudence from Romulus to Justinian, appreciate the labors of that emperor, and pause to contemplate the principles of a science so important to the peace and happiness of society.
The Laws of a nation form the most instructive portion of its history; and although I have devoted myself to write the annals of a declining monarchy, I shall embrace the occasion to breathe the pure and invigorating air of the republic.
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Roman law, the law of ancient Rome from the time of the founding of the city in 753 BC era until the fall of the Western Empire in the 5th century .
As a legal system, Roman law has affected the development of law in most of Western civilization as well as in parts of the East.
The development of Roman law comprises more than a thousand years of jurisprudence - from the Twelve Tables (c. 439 BC) to the Corpus Juris Civilis (AD
TABLE IV: Rights of fathers (paterfamilias) over ...
TABLE IX: Public law
TABLE VII: Land rights
TABLE I: Procedure: for courts and trials
From an early date there were definite legal ordinances in Rome, and shortly after the expulsion of the kings a collection of leges regiae was made by a certain
