CLS 186 - Roman Law and Society

Course Units: 1

(Winter; Gazzarri) A survey of Roman law with special attention to constitutional history in the context of the conceptual development of civil law. Basic concepts of Rome’s civil law include “person” (who qualified and under what conditions?), “property” (at the end of the day, what else was there?), “succession” (i.e., who inherited property when the owner died?), “contract” (the fine print has been important for a long time!), and “delict” (wrong-doing, damages, and remedies or, failing that, punishments). We will look, in other words, at the Roman constitution and its intersections with basic civil rights and the procedures for conducting one’s affairs legally. Crimes and their punishments will hold our interest too, as will the influence of Roman legal thinking on European and American jurisprudence. CC: LCC, HUM