Student guide Faculty of Law A.Y. 2007/08

The course is divided into two parts:
- 1st semester: Roman Law Institutions
- 2nd semester: Roman Law

The course will focus on the main institutions of Roman public and private law, demonstrating the legal and historical aspects of Roman law and showing the relationships between politics, economics and legal rules.

Roman law, which developed over twelve centuries, is particularly instructive in this respect. Having been transformed in just a few centuries from a town of shepherds and farmers to the capital of a country with worldwide influence, Rome created a legal system that demonstrated a surprising ability to adapt to changes in political and economic forms. This ability is very well illustrated by the formation during the Republican era of a system (called ius honorarium) “parallel” to the old, inadequate civil law, creating a set of new rights due to the legal protection granted to situations which were previously non-existent or not deemed to require protection.

The influence of the political and economic system on the formation and development of the law will be illustrated with special reference to the contract system, family law and succession law. The part of the course devoted to the Imperial era will emphasise the relations between the forms of power and the system of law production sources.

 

This course, which represents a development on the teaching of Roman law institutions, will focus on Roman litigation in Late Antiquity.

In particular the course will analyse the subject of appeals and other methods used to review judgments in the cognitio extra ordinem system.

Broadly speaking, the syllabus coincides with the contents of the recommended textbook.

It will be supplemented by references to private law institutions which are particularly suitable to illustrate the political/economic/legal relations mentioned in the course aims. This part of the syllabus will be made available to students at suitable times, with the publication of notes and materials by the lecturer.

 

The first part will focus on the historical development of the system of appeals, by analysing the most significant legal sources.

The second part will illustrate the systematic profile of the institution, as resulting from the constitutions of the Codes of Theodosius and Justinian.

Seminar activities

 

Workshops will be held on subjects that emerge during lectures and discussions with students. The lecturers and/or their assistants will attend these workshops. Attendance at the workshops is optional. Students who so wish can contribute to them with reports on specific subjects, agreed with the lecturers or their assistants. In the final assessment, due account will be taken of the student’s active contribution to and participation in the seminar activities.

 

To be agreed with the students who attend lectures.

An oral exam will be held at the end of the course.

Cantarella, E., Istituzioni di diritto romano, Cuem, Milan, 2001.

 

Pergami, F., L’appello nella legislazione del Tardo Impero, Giuffrè, Milan, 2000.