Roman Law and Economics

Abstract

Rome is the only western society that autonomously grew a legal profession distinct from the political and religious power. Roman legal thought and the institutions that it generated have had and continue to have an enormous influence on legal thinking in the western world and beyond. This book investigates the economics of Roman legal institutions, their functions and their evolution. It brings together most of the scholars that have been active in this field in recent years from three interconnected perspectives: legal history, economic history, and the economic analysis of law. The book has three purposes. The first goal is to demonstrate the existence of a fertile field of studies that has been overshadowed by discussions on the applicability of modern methods to the study of ancient societies. This book is an example of how this approach can be combined with due deference to the historical context. The second goal is to show that the inquiry is interesting both for students of history and for students of economics. The former will hopefully appreciate that the application of modern economic techniques sheds new light on the emergence and evolution of legal institutions in response to changes in the underlying economic activities that those institutions regulated. The latter are invited to consider a unique and relatively well-documented time series on economic, political, social, and legal variables covering approximately one thousand years. The third goal is to provide an economic and historical analysis of the most salient legal institutions of the Roman world and to introduce the reader to a set of empirical and theoretical methods.