Law Commons^™

Law In Books, Law In Action And Society, Alan Watson

Colloquia

I consider myself a comparative legal historian and range widely over time and space. My interest is in private law. My general conclusions, developed over years, on law in society are three and are interconnected and are as follows: 1) Governments are not much interested in developing law especially not private law. They generally leave this to subordinate law makers to whom, however, they do not grant power to make law; 2) Even when famous legislators emerge, they are seldom interested in inserting a particular social message or even certainty into their laws; 3) Borrowing is the name of the …

Repraesentatio In Classical Latin, Alan Watson

Scholarly Works

The Romans knew well the twin concepts of representation and representatives in law suits and in the relationships between father and son, and owner and slave. But for these concepts they did not use the terms repraesentare or any cognate.

To Tertullian, it seems, goes the credit of first using repraesentare and repraesentator in their modern senses of <> and <>. That his context is theological probably should not surprise since he is, above all, a theologian.

Thus he uses repraesentare to mean that the one larger and more important may represent the many and less important. This usage had a …