Romans have always been following the laws and regulations of the empire, starting from its foundation in 753 BC up to this day. The very first legal process that was integrated by Justinian Emperor was the historical Corpus Juris Civilis. Of course, there have been changes in the laws throughout the entire period of the Roman Empire. In today’s article, we will talk about the types of regulations the territory had, what specifications it held, and how it changed over time.
The characteristics of the regulations
The chronology provided by various historians has shown that there have been two classes of Roman Law, including the Private and Public regulations. The Private one was in control of the trade and anything related to work. Whereas the Public law held the rights of the residents of the empire. According to many experts, Roman Law has become one of the strongest legal documents in the entire history of law.
The significance of the regulations was that they had several aspects, including living an honest, honorable, and dedicated life, keeping the traditions of the territory, formalities, and realistic ways of life. People who followed those rules were considered the honorable residents of the Roman era. It was a key factor to live an honest and unharmful life, as by doing so, the residents were following the law and keeping the discipline. And those who would violate the laws would be punished and made to correct their ways of life.
Even though the Roman Law has changed with centuries, the main aspect was the same, to keep the traditions. Roman law may have developed, but the practice of law was embedded in the practices that forewent it. Keeping the formalities of the regulations allowed the residents to guide the creation of standards or procedures practical in additional issues, bypassing random variations of the regulation. Success is described in the seriousness covering the action of distributing justice.
Another important thing to keep in mind was to be real to anything that happened. It was necessary to keep the real mind whenever the laws were not able to determine the point. Additionally, keeping the individual characteristics of the law, it was shown that precise differences were made between the social and the honorable types of law. The Roman law has shown us that it is directed to the precision of the determination of the points that meet the ideas of the regulations.
Keeping the traditions
As we have already mentioned above, keeping the traditional aspects was very essential for the Roam Law. All the customs and traditions were passed from generation to generation. Although it was not remarked in a written form, the word of mouth did its job perfectly. And after the 3rd century BC, the Roman Laws started to become in written form as well. Those written laws were called the laws of the twelve tables.
Thanks to those laws, the regulations of the Roman empire became very organized. The authorities of the Roman era were chosen every year. They were ought to follow the rules and regulations of the Roman Law and were responsible for any offense or violation to the court. One of the regulations for the authorities was that they were not paid as it was their honorable duty.
In addition to the Roman Law, there was also the common law, which was founded in England. It was also called Anglo-Saxon Law, which had the basis in Roman law. In this particular law, the ownership is represented via judicial conclusions, which in issues of mysteriousness must be limited by courts.
With the changes of the centuries, Roman law has started to change and develop. Therefore, from the beginning of the 11th century, it was generally transformed by the Catholic Church. During this period, Roman law became an academic foundation and still is to this day.
The stability of Roman Law in our days
Whenever historians and academics talk about Roman law, it becomes clear that it is a very demanded subject in most of the academies of the western part. The reason behind having an attorney, custody, magistrates, senate, etc., comes from Roman law. Roman law has been one of the most essential and fundamental factors of the entire legal system all over the world. With the help of the Roman Law, things became more structured and kept their foundations to this day. There were, of course, many dangerous and strange laws as well. Luckily, they are not part of today’s regulations.
The bottom line
The legal procedures of the Roman period are very complex, detailed, and intricate. That is why it is highly required to do a lot of analysis and research, and comprehend the changes and modifications of each period of those changes. While many things have changed since the introduction of the Roman legal system, the idea of the system generally remains the same.