Legal History Commons^™

A Funhouse Mirror Of Law: The Entailment In Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice, Peter A. Appel

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In this Essay, I will first outline the general development of different means used to hold property and keep it within a family in England. This discussion must of necessity be brief and schematic, and therefore readers should not rely on it as a completely accurate, nuanced, and detailed discussion of the historical development of English land law. I will then examine what Austen has to say about Longbourn, the principal property in Pride and Prejudice, which leads me to conclude that Austen probably conceived of Longbourn as being entailed and not secured under a strict settlement. I will also …

Justinian's Corpus Iuris Civilis: Oddities Of Legal Development, And Human Civilisation, Alan Watson

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The most momentous event in secular legal history is also perhaps the weirdest: Justinian's compilation, now known as the Corpus Iuris Civilis. Unsurprisingly, scholars have avoided stressing how odd the Corpus Iuris is. The most likely explanation is that it is so highly regarded that they have not noticed. They accept its high reputation, hence for them high quality is a given. This is a theme to which I return and no doubt will continue to return. The Corpus Iuris is so central in history, for understanding how law develops, and is so important today.

Repraesentatio In Classical Latin, Alan Watson

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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 …

Intervention In Roman Law: A Case Study In The Hazards Of Legal Scholarship, Peter A. Appel

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In this Article, I offer a case study of one of the hazards presented by legal scholarship in law reviews as it has evolved over the last century. The standard law review article typically begins with an overview of the author's subject, frequently involving a historical perspective or a chronology of the development of a doctrine. This background section stems from a number of causes, but many attribute it to the fact that most law reviews are student-edited. In order to evaluate an author's argument, students need a brief course in, say, the basics of trade law and pollution control …

Roman Slave Law: An Anglo-American Perspective, Alan Watson

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When one looks at Roman slave law from an Anglo-American perspective, what is striking is the apparent disinterest or lack of concern in the subject on the part of the state and the corresponding freedom of action allowed to slave owners. My claim is not that there was little law--indeed there was a great deal--but that the state did not get overly involved in laying down what owners could do with their slaves. For instance, though law decreed the methods by which slaves could be freed, the state imposed very few restrictions on manumission. This is all the more striking …

Thinking Property At Rome, Alan Watson

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It is a commonplace among writers on slavery that there is an inherent contradiction or a necessary confusion in regarding slaves as both human beings and things. In law there is no such contradiction or confusion. Slaves are both property and human beings. Their humanity is not denied but (in general) they are refused legal personality, a very different matter.

Things as property may be classed in various ways, and the classification may then have an impact on owners' rights and duties. A thing may be corporeal or incorporeal, immoveable or moveable. Some moveables may be classed as res se …

Seventeenth-Century Jurists, Roman Law, And The Law Of Slavery, Alan Watson

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Issues of slavery and slave law were of considerable theoretical interest to continental European jurists in the seventeenth century. They lived in a different world from American colonists of European descent because they had no direct experience of slave holding and no immediate financial involvement. Their interest stemmed from the fact that their education was in Roman law; and not only was Roman law the most revered system, but slaves were prominent in it. For the jurists' attitudes we must remember that, at least in theory, there were no slaves in territories such as the Dutch Republic, Germany, or France. …

The Evolution Of Law: The Roman System Of Contracts, Alan Watson

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I have two aims in producing this paper. First, I wish to contribute to the general understanding of how and why law develops and explain the evolution of some very familiar legal institutions. Second, I wish to add to our knowledge of the history of Roman law, by producing a radically different view of the development of contracts, that is, I believe, both consistent with surviving textual data and plausible with regard to human behavior.

Emptio, "Taking", Alan Watson

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According to Festus, "Emere, quod nunc est mer cari, antiqui acdpiebant pro sumere" and modern philologists do accept some such meaning as the original in Latin.)

The Thesaurus Linguae Latinae) however, thinks there is no certain example of this sense of emere and considers the instances adduced by Skutsch) to be scarcely convincing. I should like to produce for consideration a different instance drawn from the derivative emptio or emptor. The instance in question may not take us as far back as emere = sumere but will at least to emere = accipere.

The Rescripts Of The Emperor Probus (276-282 A.D.), Alan Watson

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In an earlier study, I examined the private law in the rescripts of Carus and his two sons, the Emperors who ruled from 282 to 284, immediately before the accession of Diocletian, and found as the main conclusion that, despite everything, the quality of legal decision had remained reasonably high. This paper considers the four rescripts that survive from the troubled reign of the preceding Emperor, Probus. None contains a great legal innovation; none shows a drastic lowering of legal standards. Their importance lies in what they reveal about general matters. Despite the enormous military and economic problems of the …

Morality, Slavery And The Jurists In The Later Roman Republic, Alan Watson

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The problem I wish to discuss is the moral attitude of the later Republican jurists to slavery. The prominent jurists of the time belong to the upper classes and, although it would be wrong to generalize from the jurists to other members of the aristocracy, we shall have a certain glimpse into the social attitudes of the period if we can gain a reasonably clear picture from the jurists. I will deal only with juristic discussion, and not with the statutes and edicts which concern slavery. No doubt the jurists would play a part in shaping these, but public political …

Towards A New Hypothesis Of The 'Legio Actio Sacramento In Rem', Alan Watson

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According to Gaius, the form of the 'legis actio sacramento in rem' was as follows:

A. Hunc ego hominem ex iure quiritium meum esse aio secundum suam causam. Sicut dixi, ecce tibi vindictam imposui. (As he said this he 'festucam imponebat').

B. (Eadem dicebat e faciebat). Praetor. Mittite ambo hominem.

A. Postulo anne dicas qua ex causa vindicaveris.

B. Ius feci, sicut vindictam imposui.

A. Quando tu iniuria vindicavisti, quingenario (or 'quinquagenario') sacramento te provoco.

B. Et ego te.

A & B to the witnesses. Testes estote.

It is, I think, universally accepted first that both parties to the action …

'Apochatum Pro Uncis Duabus', Alan Watson

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Two of the Transylvanian sale triptychs contain the clause 'apochatum pro uncis duabus.' The first document dates from 142 A.D., the second from 160 A.D. What meaning is to be attributed to 'apochatum (or apochatam) pro uncis duabus', literally 'receipted for two ounces'?

The real explanation, I suggest, is that 'apochatum pro uncis duabus', 'receipted for two unciae', refers to the present 'mancipatio', not to a previous one, and that the point of the clause is to limit the 'actio auctoritatis' to four 'unciae', a negligible sum.

Consensual 'Societas' Between Romans And The Introduction Of 'Formulae', Alan Watson

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A very common view still held seems to be that until the second half of the second century B.C. and the passing of the 'lex Aebutia', 'formulae' were not available in actions between 'cives'. This has been very forcefully attacked, especially by Kunkel and Kaser, and the purpose of the present note is merely to add another argument to theirs.

The Form And Nature Of 'Acceptilatio' In Classical Roman Law, Alan Watson

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Until recently, it would seem to have been agreed among Romanists that in early classical roman law only one form of words, namely 'Habesne acceptum? habeo' was permitted for a valid 'acceptilatio', but that by the time of Ulpian a second form (and no more), namely 'Acceptum facis? facio' had been accepted. Indeed, that this was the position is accepted without discussion by Mr. Nicholas in a very thorough article on the form of the stipulation. Mr. Nicholas' main goal is to show that in classical law 'stipulatio' was a formal act and required to be made in one of …

'Arra' In The Law Of Justinian, Alan Watson

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So much has been written in recent years on 'arra' in Justinian's law that one hesitates to add to it. But there is, I submit, a solution to the problem raised by the texts which is simpler than any so far suggested, and which gives a satisfactory result.