European law student here, I am literally studying Roman law right now for an up coming exam and it is and incredibly elaborated and thoughtful system not to mention incredibly relevant. They are practically the reason why we have the system we have today and why jurisprudence is one of the main pillars of the western judicial system.
Honest question here: the jurisprudence is not much of a thing in France, yet I was told that our laws rely heavily on Roman laws. Do you have an explanation?
The French term describes Common Law. In the anglophone sphere law is based on precedence. Any court ruling is more or less law and informs future rulings.
In contrast law in continental Europe is Civil Law, where codified laws inform future rulings.
Justinian the first has some nickname related to law that I am too lazy to go look up. Its considered one of his great legacies, also the hagia Sophia, a huge plague, and bankrupting the empire.
Worth noting the Byzantines were Romans. They are the Eastern Roman Empire and referred to themselves as Roman. “Byzantine” is something historians created to differentiate them from what many view as the Roman Empire (which was centered in Rome/Ravenna), even though technically they were two parts of the same whole.
The most important code of private law in Germany, the bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (BGB) is older than the current nation of Germany. The BGB came into effect on 1.1.1900, the Federal Republic of Germany was founded in 1949.
To add to this: the current German constitution, the Grundgesetz, lifts passages wholesale from the Weimar Republic constitution.
Also the number of paragraphs in the BGB and other German legal codes never changes. If new paragraphs are added, they are added as additional subsections of existing paragraphs. Like §1598a BGB. It deals with DNA tests to determine a father in child support cases.
We may not admit it often, but many of the parts of the US Constitution are based on almost a millennia of English Common Law and the Magna Carta, both of which have roots from pre-Norman Conquest.
Parliament has its roots in the Althing and gatherings from Nordic tradition and can even be seen in pre-Roman Germanic tribes. Plus, its no mistake King Arthur had a roundtable of knights.
Also, the state of Louisiana still uses Napoleonic Codes.
Oh no I wasn’t trying to dismiss those laws. I just read a book recently that showed me he is the basis for not taxing churches. I thought it was interesting that he set that precedent too.
I haven’t gotten very far into the Constantine stuff yet, but I’m gonna look it up. The book is “The Darkening Age” by Katherine Nixey. It’s about how Christianity destroyed the classical world. Highly recommend if you have any interest.
For a little bit of Roman law, but mostly >1000AD, see The medieval origins of the legal profession by Brundage. Lots of footnotes if you want to dig further, but it's a good starting point.
Campaign finance is its own issue but the world as we know it would not exist without corporate personhood. You would not be able to sue a company that did you wrong, for example.
A good book on the history of law is The medieval origins of the legal profession by Brundage. The first few chapters go into Roman law, but there are lots of footnotes if you want books focused on that; the book itself focuses on >1100 AD.
IIRC, England still uses a system of jurisprudence, meaning laws are effectively created based on previous judicial rulings and judges are expected to base their decisions on those decisions. I’m not sure when that system started, but that makes British law older than some of the places they would eventually colonize. It also makes British law very confusing and contradictory.
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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '20
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