The Revival of Roman Law and the European Legal Tradition

Abstract

From the eleventh century onward, Justinian’s Roman law permeated all European legal systems to different degrees and at different times. The development of Roman law in Europe was not uniform. It followed different courses, had different emphases, and took on different details in each of the major European countries. The fusion of Roman law, canon law, and feudal law produced the ius commune, a common legal system in Europe in force until the era of national codifications. At the end of the sixteenth century, almost all of continental Europe was ruled by ius commune, with significant local variants (ius proprium), and a body of common legal literature. Roman law infused both Catholic Europe and the Protestant culture of Northern Europe. Around 1700, Roman law was used to identify the basic moral principles of natural law and the law of nations. Around 1800, Roman law influenced the French Civil Code and many others in the so-called age of codification. With the German Civil Code (BGB) coming into force in 1900, Roman law lost its direct applicability in European legal practice. Yet the Roman law tradition itself has survived: civil law systems have been so influenced by Roman law that legal interpretation remains incomplete if it does not take into consideration Roman legal sources. In our own day, the study of Roman law has educational purposes and may prove instrumental in the development of a new global law.