The Cambridge Companion to Roman Law

by David Johnston

Overview

This book reflects the wide range of current scholarship on Roman law. The essays, newly-commissioned for this volume, cover the sources of evidence for classical Roman law; the elements of private law, as well as criminal and public law; and the second life of Roman law in Byzantium, in civil and canon law, and in political discourse from AD 1100 to the present. Roman law nowadays is studied in many different ways, which is reflected in the diversity of approaches in the essays. Some focus on how the law evolved in ancient Rome, others on its place in the daily life of the Roman citizen, still others on how Roman legal concepts and doctrines have been deployed through the ages. All of them are responses to one and the same thing: the sheer intellectual vitality of Roman law, which has secured its place as a central element in the intellectual tradition and history of the West.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521719940
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	02/16/2015
Series:	Cambridge Companions to the Ancient World
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	554
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.18(d)

About the Author

David Johnston is a Queen's Counsel who practises at the Bar in Scotland, mainly in the fields of public and commercial law. He holds MA, PhD and LD degrees from the University of Cambridge. From 1993 to 1999 he was Regius Professor of Civil Law at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Christ's College. He is currently an honorary professor at Edinburgh Law School. David Johnston is the author of many publications, including The Roman Law of Trusts (1988), Roman Law in Context (1999) and Prescription and Limitation, 2nd edition (2012).

Table of Contents

Part I. Introduction: 1. Introduction David Johnston; 2. Roman law and its intellectual context Laurens Winkel; Part II. Lawmaking: 3. Sources of law from the Republic to the Dominate David Ibbetson; 4. Roman law in the provinces John Richardson; Part III. Roman Law: The Evidence: 5. Documents in Roman practice Joseph Georg Wolf; 6. Writing in Roman legal contexts Elizabeth A. Meyer; 7. Patristic sources Caroline Humfress; 8. Justinian and the Corpus Iuris Civilis Wolfgang Kaiser; Part IV. Private Law in Roman Society: 9. Slavery, family, and status Andrew Lewis; 10. Property Paul du Plessis; 11. Succession David Johnston; 12. Commerce Jean-Jacques Aubert; 13. Delicts A. J. B. Sirks; 14. Litigation Ernest Metzger; Part V. Criminal and Public Law: 15. Crime and punishment Andrew Lintott; 16. Public law A. J. B. Sirks; Part VI. Byzantium and Beyond: 17. The law of New Rome: Byzantine law B. H. Stolte; 18. The legacy of Roman law Laurent Mayali; 19. Canon law and Roman law R. H. Helmholz; 20. Political thought Magnus Ryan; 21. Roman law in the modern world Reinhard Zimmermann.

Editorial Reviews

"A sophisticated and informative journey through a fascinating intellectual landscape: Roman law, private and public, in its ancient context and beyond, beautifully explained to lawyers and historians."
Dario Mantovani, Università degli Studi di Pavia, Italy

"The Cambridge Companion to Roman Law is an indispensable survey of the enormous field of Roman law, focusing not just on the substance of the law, but also on the process of its creation, its enforcement in the Roman world, and its subsequent influence on later legal systems."
Dennis Kehoe, Tulane University, Louisiana

"This book is a good companion for a long journey, from the formation of Roman law through its reconstruction in the Middle Ages to its continuing influence in the modern world. The authors present Roman law authoritatively and from a range of perspectives, examining its doctrines, its development, and its intellectual and economic roots."
James Gordley, Tulane University, Louisiana

"It is rare to read a book on Roman law which is difficult to put down, but this is such a book … [It] has much to offer both the general reader and the professional lawyer or classicist."
Classics for All Reviews (classicsforallreviews.wordpress.com)

From the Publisher