Roman law

Roman Law is the legal system of ancient Rome. The development of Roman law covers more than a thousand years from the law of the twelve tables (from 449 BC) to the codification of Emperor Justinian I (around 530). Roman law as preserved in Justinian's codes became the basis of legal practice in the Byzantine Empire and—later— in continental Western Europe

References

• Fritz Schulz, History of Roman Legal Science. Clarendon Press. 1953.
• Peter Stein, Roman Law in European History. Cambridge University Press, 1999 (ISBN 0521643724).
• Andrew Borkowski, Textbook on Roman law. Oxford University Press, 2nd Ed. (ISBN 1-85431-642-7).
• Barry Nicholas, An Introduction to Roman Law. Clarendon Press, 1962 (ISBN 0-19-876063-9).
• Jill Harries, "Law and Empire in Late Antiquity" Cambridge, 1999 (ISBN 0-521-41087-8).

The book by Schulz is somewhat outdated, but it is a masterly and very readable account of how Roman law evolved into a science. Stein?s book is suited to someone interested in the impact of Roman law on later systems and the detail on the law itself here is comparatively brief. Borkowski offers the most accessible and detailed information. In Nicholas' book, there are many interesting insights and extra detail but occasionally, Nicholas fails to include areas that can be found in Borkowski's work. The fifth is an excellent historical survey of later legal development confined in the main to the fourth century AD.

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