Many people know the fundamentals of Roman law, which became the foundation of most modern-day legal systems across the world. However, not many people are familiar with the fact that the core elements of Roman law can be directly traced back to the ancient Greek world.
The Romans, a pragmatic civilization, looked to their Greek neighbors for inspiration in developing their own legal framework, as they did for many other aspects of their lives. This influence is pretty evident in some of the earliest Roman legal codes. An example of this was the Twelve Tables.
The Twelve Tables were a set of laws inscribed on 12 bronze tablets in ancient Rome around 451 to 450 BC. As we can understand, this was the very beginning of Rome as a powerful entity. These laws were created by a commission of ten men, known as the decemviri, to address the demands of the ordinary people of Rome for a written code of laws.
Displayed in the Roman Forum upon completion, they covered various aspects of Roman life. The primary element of these laws was that they established the principle of equality before the law for all citizens. This formed a crucial foundation for later Roman law that took the form and shape of the law as we know it today.
Although the original tablets have not survived, their content is known to archaeologists and historians through later Roman writings, and they remained a standard part of Roman legal education for centuries. This is why experts believe they marked the beginning of Rome’s publishing of laws. They influenced the development of Roman law for generations to come.
This seminal work of Roman legal thought heavily drew its inspiration from Greek laws, particularly those of Solon of Athens. According to Roman historian Titus Livius, known in the English-speaking world as Livy, in the 5th century BC, a number of Roman ambassadors were sent to study the legal systems of Greek city-states. This was proof of the high regard in which Greek law was held not only in Greece but further beyond.
After inspecting the details of the Solonian Constitution in ancient Athens and the first laws of Rome, one can see that there were several key similarities between Greek and Roman law.
Both civilizations had a fundamental concept of civil law that applied specifically to citizens. They also developed a “law of nations,” known as “jus gentium” in Rome, that could be applied to foreigners. This facilitated trade and diplomacy and was indicative of the clear distinction the two civilizations placed between natives and non-natives. The Romans even adopted certain Greek legal principles, such as trial by jury, into their own system, applying it to broader audiences beyond the Greek world.
However, there were also very notable differences in the development of Greek and Roman law.
While the Greeks were renowned for their philosophical approach to law for centuries and generations, the Romans were much more focused on its practical applications and how it could be enforced in real-life situations. As a result, Roman law became more sophisticated and extensive than its Greek counterpart. It thus became the basis for modern legal systems. This legal evolution was particularly crucial and a necessity for administering a vast empire. In comparison, Greek law, while influential, never attained the same level of doctrinal refinement as Roman law did.
Roman law followed a clear and remarkable evolutionary path over the centuries—from its very humble beginnings in the Twelve Tables of the young city of Rome to the monumental Corpus Juris Civilis.
The Twelve Tables, which date back to the mid-5th century BC, represented one of the earliest attempts by the Romans to codify their law and make it clear and accessible to the citizens of the state. Over time, Roman law expanded even further—this time, to cover more details. These included, among others, praetorian edicts, senatorial decrees, imperial constitutions, and the writings of legal scholars, all of which added much more depth to the law of the empire. This continuous process of refinement culminated in the famous Corpus Juris Civilis in the 6th century AD under the reign of Emperor Justinian.
One of the fundamentally defining characteristics of Roman law throughout the centuries was its practicality and efficiency. Over the course of time, the Romans developed a very comprehensive legal framework encompassing issues such as personal rights, binding contracts, personal property, civil procedure, and crimes. This systematic approach to law was crucial in maintaining order and stability across the Roman Empire, which, during its peak, reached from the English-Scottish border to the depths of the Middle East.
As we know today, the influence of Roman law extends far beyond the borders of the Roman Empire itself. In modern times, Roman Law forms the basis of civil law, the most widely used legal system in the world. The principles and structures of Roman law continue to shape legal codes across continental Europe, Latin America, and even parts of Africa and Asia.
Even in countries with common law traditions, such as England, Roman law has left its clear mark. Many basic principles of Roman law are still present and play a foundational role in both civil and common law systems. English common law has absorbed a variety of Roman legal concepts and Latin terminology as well, pointing to the impact of Roman law in our world.
The main difference between Roman law and common law lies in the way they developed and the role of legal authorities. Roman law relies heavily on written statutes and codes. There, judges are primarily responsible for interpreting and applying these laws to specific cases.
In contrast, common law, which developed in England after the Norman Conquest, is based on judicial precedent. There, judges play a more active role in shaping the law through their decisions. These become binding precedents for future cases.
Of course, one cannot ignore the numerous practical implications of ancient Greek legal practices in the development of Roman law. These became particularly influential in shaping Roman law itself along with the cornerstone beliefs of Greek philosophy. The works of many influential Greek philosophers, such as Aristotle and the Stoics, had a profound effect on the development of Roman legal thought through time, which, in turn, influenced the evolution of Roman law.
The multitude of ideas of Aristotle, for example, on subjects ranging from justice to equity and natural law were particularly influential in Roman legal thinking. Aristotle argued law itself should be based on reason and strive to promote the common good. These fundamental concepts resonated deeply with Roman jurists across the Italian peninsula and beyond. They consistently sought to establish a legal system that was both fair and practical in its enforcement in everyday cases.
The Stoics, on the other hand, placed their emphasis on universal natural law. These had also had a significant impact on Roman legal thinking throughout the centuries. The Stoics believed there was a universal law that governed all people regardless of their citizenship, geographical place, or social status. They didn’t believe these were predetermined by origin or class. The idea of a higher law transcending beliefs and laws of individual states and humans was a key factor in the development of the jus gentium, or the law of nations, the Romans created later on.
A large number of famous and notable jurists who made truly significant contributions to the development of legal principles and doctrines in the Roman Empire left their mark during the zenith moments of Roman society. Later on, these figures consequently became the foundational stones that helped establish future developments and evolutions of the law of their Roman land. One of the most famous Roman jurists was a man called Gaius.
Gaius lived in the 2nd century AD and his work, the Institutes was a very systematic description of Roman law that served as a master copy or model for a number of legal texts that followed. This also includes Justinian’s Code. Gaius is credited by many experts in the field with being the first to establish the distinction between “res mancipi,” which is the property that could only be transferred through a formal ceremony, and “res nec mancipi,” which is property that could be transferred informally.
This might not sound very significant today, but it became a concept that was fundamental to Roman property law, affecting generations of people and the way we understand property to this very day.
Another notable jurist of the Roman world was Ulpian, who lived in the early 3rd century AD. Ulpian also wrote extensively on various aspects of law, including civil procedure, criminal law, and the duties of magistrates in Roman society. His works were very influential and frequently cited by later jurists, showing his importance in developing the legal tradition of Rome.
Papinian, who was a contemporary of Ulpian, was also a renowned jurist in his time. He became the chief legal advisor to Emperor Septimius Severus and was later known for his exceptional reasoning skills and sense of justice within his public thinking. Papinian’s opinions were highly respected and often used as a basis for legal decisions long after his death.
It would be understandable for someone to think that following the demise of the Roman Empire, the influence of Roman law would have ended. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Roman law experienced a major resurgence in medieval and early modern Europe, playing a fundamental role in the development of the following modern European legal systems across the continent. This resurgence was additionally significantly influenced by the rediscovery of ancient Greek legal texts and principles as well, which shaped this “rebirth” of Roman legal thinking across the continent.
Almost a millennium ago, in the 11th century AD, the study of Roman law was officially revived in the Italian city of Bologna. Scholars there, such as Irnerius and his successors, known as the Glossators, began to methodically study and analyze the Corpus Juris Civilis. This would be especially consequential in later years.
Their work, which became known as the Glossa Ordinaria, turned out to be the standard reference for Roman law in all of medieval Europe and had a seminal place in its future development. It is, of course, important to note that the Roman law studied by these scholars had already been influenced by Greek legal principles, particularly by Greek philosophical principles as to the way a society should function and how human nature perceives justice.
The reception of Roman law obviously differed across Europe, as there were a large number of kingdoms and states of varying sizes across the continent. In some areas, such as Italy and southern France, Roman law was adopted almost in its entirety as it came from earlier uses within the Roman Empire. In others, such as England and Scandinavia, however, Roman law had a much more limited influence.
Local customary laws remained dominant and were only enriched by Roman ideas rather than being entirely replaced by the Roman codes. It’s worth mentioning that Greek legal principles like trial by jury had already been adopted by the Romans and subsequently influenced the development of legal systems in these areas that had limited influence by Rome.
Therefore, even in countries where Roman law was not fully adopted, it still played quite an important role in issues such as legal thinking and practice through time. Roman legal concepts and terminology, which was primarily Latin with much of it of Greek origin, were widely adopted.
Roman law was often used by many states as a supplement to already established local laws when rules were unclear on particular issues. This became possible because Roman law had developed a much more sophisticated, complex, and extensive legal framework.
Many European state formations of the Middle Ages, such as France and Prussia, undertook revolutionary and comprehensive legal reforms heavily influenced by Roman legal principles significantly shaped by Greek thought.
These subdued Greek influences on Roman law, through texts like the Twelve Tables and concepts like trial by jury, played a key role in establishing the fundamental elements of legal systems of medieval and early modern Europe.
From its humble beginnings in the Twelve Tables to its spectacularly comprehensive codification in the Corpus Juris Civilis, Roman law evolved to meet the changing needs of a vast and complex empire that extended from the Atlantic to the Persian Gulf and from northern England to southern Egypt.
The influence of ancient Greek philosophical and legal systems and, more importantly, particular elements of Greek thought on the development of Roman law cannot be overstated. The Romans borrowed, changed, and adapted a great multitude of Greek legal concepts to create a sophisticated and practical legal framework that could be applied to their diverse territories.
