The structure, character and content of Roman law

Roman law is first and foremost private law, law of and between citizens. In relation to it public law and the law of nations are less important. Roman law is concerned with the relationships between people, their legal actions, and the right they have on goods. Legal persons were in particular the fathers of families, the proverbal pater familias. They held great power over their wives, children and slaves. An important element is the law of procedure. The archaic Roman law was characterized by a lot of ritualized legal formulae to which one had to stick as close as possible. In a later phase one is able to choose one or more legal actions, a matter which called for interpretation: which action? Parties ruled their conflicts themselves. A judge only appeared in a final phase of the case. For centuries there were no courts. In the great public trials, like the ones in which Cicero became famous, his role was more akin to that of an orator than to the role of a modern solicitor. 

Roman law is remarkable for the detailed yet succinct way one treated cases. One looked principally at things by dealing with concrete or imaginary cases. This casuistic aspect is more important than any systematic view. One did not write a theory of damage, but about a car hitting someone on the Capitol. Of course one has tried to systematize Roman law. The great Roman lawyers treated all kind of cases when writing on several subjects or commenting the edict of the praetor. The real heart of Roman law was hereditary law. Apart from legal procedure, family law, the law of goods, and the law of obligations are the other main areas. The juridical content and level of Roman law is of such a quality that it has deeply influenced directly and indirectly lawyers of all times and places. It brought with it a great prestige because of Roman history.

Task 3. Answer the following questions.

1. What is the first known source of Roman law?

2. Who governed Rome after the period of the kings?

3. Did somebody know something of the law before the Twelve Tables were erected?

4. What were the Twelve Tables erected for?

5. Who gave juridical advice when asked for?

6. How often did the praetor publish his edict?

7. What did the praetor announce in his edict?

8. What legal task did the censors have?

9. What did the mysterious Gaius do?

10. When did Justinian try to unify law by codification on all levels?

11. What Roman law is concerned with?

12. What is less important in relation to Roman law?

13. When did great Roman lawyers treat all kinds of cases?

14. What did Justinian do to crown his achievement?

15. Who held great power over their wives, children and slaves?

16. What was the archaic Roman law characterized by?

Task 4. Pick out from the text all the word combinations with the following words and give their Ukrainian equivalents.

To uphold of mores, code of law, decree, legal actions, law of procedure, edict, great public trial, codification, legal procedure, law of obligation.

Task 5. Complete the following expressions choosing a suitable preposition from the list below; find the best way of expressing them in Ukrainian.

1. The Roman Law is the law …. ancient Rome from the time of the founding of the city in 753 BC until the fall of the Western Empire in the 5th century AD.

2. In the great public trials, like the ones in which Cicero became famous, his role was more akin … that of an orator than to the role of a modern solicitor. 

3. Roman law is concerned … the relationships … people, their legal actions, and the right they have on goods.

4. The term Roman law today often refers … more than the laws of Roman society.

5. The legal institutions evolved by the Romans had influence … the laws of other peoples in times long after the disappearance of the Roman Empire and in countries that were never subject … Roman rule.

Between, with, to (3) , of, on,

Task 6. Translate the following text and pay special attention to the underlined words and phrases.

1. Legal systems in capitalist and pre-capitalist nations were created to reinforce and justify property relations.

2. Legal relations should not be thought of as in any way independent from political relations, which are based on ownership of property.

3. Socialist lawmakers criticized both common law and previous Roman civil law systems for masking their own capitalist ideology in apparently neutral, unbiased institutions.

4. In China, law courts are still primarily regarded as political instruments, used both to control theft and violence and to deal with political opponents.

5. Attempts have been made to codify Chinese law comprehensively, but so far there has been little progress.

6. Even before the rejection of their traditions, the foreign countries had started to allow an increase in civil law cases, and a long process of revising existing civil and criminal codes had begun.

7. As separatist movements grew in many parts of the world, there was also development in Constitutional law, with some c questioning the legality of their obligations to the central government.

Task 7. Make the following text complete by translating the phrases in brackets.