La Jurisprudencia Romana, Cuna Del Derecho (Roman Jurisprudence and the Birth of Law)

Abstract

Spanish Abstract: Se analiza el nacimiento de la jurisprudencia romana, cuna de la tradicion juridica Occidental. El derecho romano fue fundamentalmente un derecho de juristas, y no un derecho legislado, basado mas en la autoridad de la ciencia que en el imperio del poder. Los juiristas romanos fueron capaces de crear un orden racional, secular que sirvio de modelo para la jurisprudencia medieval, moderna y contemporanea. English Abstract: Rome was the first political community in which jurists emerged. The construction of Roman law was an undertaking of a relatively small and specialized group of jurists deeply involved in political affairs, administration, and legal practice. They discussed legal cases and provided legal opinions based on reasoned argument. In legal writings, it was common for jurists to cite one another's legal opinions to persuade their colleagues. These jurists were the true architects of the impressive and solid edifice of Roman law. In this sense, Roman law can be considered a true jurist's law, a Juristenrecht, to use the original German expression. Roman jurists were focused on creating and developing the law, not on philosophical speculations and legal abstractions. Neither were they interested in comparative law, foreign law, or legal history.