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Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 40 general entries. We are selecting 30 for display.
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 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 Roman Law
| What is the modern day equivalent of "furtum"? | Roman Law
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Theft. The Romans believed in honour, thus, there was a more severe punishment if the person was caught in the act of stealing, as this was seen as a greater insult to the person from whom the object had been stolen.
| Did "iniuria" have to be experienced at the time of the insult? | Roman Law
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Yes. Iniuria could be anything from a verbal insult to an assault. "Atrox iniuria" was more serious, this could occur if the insult was greater, for example if it occurred in a public place.
| Why is the jurist Gaius so well known? | Roman Law
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His works are some of the only original legal texts that survive. Much of the jurist's work was incorporated into the Institutes of Justinian, where it was changed. However, a copy of the Institutes of Gaius was discovered in Verona in 1816, giving an insight into early Roman Law.
| What did the first book of the Institutes of Gaius relate to? | Roman Law
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Persons. Most Roman texts followed a logicl pattern. They were divided in such a way that principles were easy to remember.
| Why has Roman Law never really had that much of an impact on English Law? | Roman Law
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English Law was already well established. The English Common Law was so well established by the time of what can be referred to as the "second life" of Roman Law, that there was no need to implement Roman Law. However, there was some impact on Scottish Law.
| There were two Praetors involved in Roman Law - the Urban and the Peregrine. Which one dealt with Roman Citizens? | Roman Law
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Urban. Interestingly enough, the Urban Praetor was created first and had a far more rigid position, and he could not make laws; the Peregrine Praetor however had more flexible powers in this area despite the fact he dealt with non-citizens.
Yes, but only in the pre-classical period. As a matter of fact, the "pater familias" did have the power of life and death over those under his "potestas" throughout the archaic period and even during the classical period. As the years passed, the power of life and death was restricted only to corporal punishments, and even then, such punishments could only be enacted with a permission from the authorities and avoiding excessive violence.
All of them ("Status familiae", "Status civitatis", "Status libertatis"). The "capitis deminutio maxima" implied the total loss of rights for a given person. It was only applicable following a criminal sentence, or as a result of enslavement.
She became a "filiae loco". After a "cum manus" marriage took place, the wife became a "filiae loco", assimilated in legal status to her own children (as a "daughter" of her husband). Her father lost his "potestas" over her.
"Confarreatio". The "confarreatio" was an elaborate ceremony used by patricians to celebrate a religious marriage.
Only the consent of both parties. The only requisite needed to obtain a divorce from a "sine manus" union was mutual consent. The relative simplicity of the "sine manus" divorce is one the factors which contributed to its becoming the most popular legal union in later roman periods.
A marriage celebrated between a Roman citizen and a Peregrin. "Sine connubium" was the only mechanism for an international couple to become married under the Roman legal system. The problem was that as long as one of the parties lacked the "Ius connubium" such a union would not have civil efects.
No, one of the "de facto" requisites was difference in gender.. One of the "de facto" requisites to be married lied in the "capacitas ad naturam" which implied different sexes. One must bear into account that for the Romans the purpose of marriage was plainly reproductive.
12 years (F) and 14 years (M). As a general rule, the person ceased to be an "impuber" at age 12 for the females and age 14 for the males. As an exception, people could be declared "puber" before they had reached the regular age limit, but such a declaration required thorough physical testing and a special legal procedure.
His full legal status, with the exception of his marriage and the "corpus" requisite of the possesion. By the figure of the "ius postliminii" the Roman citizen which had been presumed killed or captured in battle, could return to Rome and regain his previous legal status alongside all of his properties. The exceptions were his marriage (given that the usus had been interrupted) and the possesions.
| Gaius wishes to sell his horse to Flavius, however he wants to rent the same horse from Flavius for a period of 2 weeks after the sale. Which form of delivery would best suit him? | Roman Law of Things
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Constitutum Possessorium. All the above are forms of delivery, however 'Constitutum Possessorium' does not require the immediate handing over of the thing to the buyer and so would suit Gaius best.
| Emperor Hadrian ruled that a person accidentally finding a treasure trove on another's land became what? | Roman Law of Things
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Owner of half the trove. The owner of the land owned the other half.. Different rules applied if the person did not find the treasure trove accidentally. While the current day definition and law regarding treasure troves differ under the different countries and legal systems, the definitions commonly define it as property concealed purposefully and of which the owner can be considered dead.
| Which is a term signifying the joining of two things in such a way that one becomes a component of the other? | Roman Law of Things
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Accessio. Most legal systems have had a tough time at one point or another deciding which is the principle thing and which the accessory in some specific cases. This is necessary under systems based on Roman law as it was held that the owner of the principle thing was also owner of the newly joined item.
| Which action would you use to get something which you owned back from a thief? | Roman Law of Things
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Rei vindicatio. Which means 'the vindication of a thing'. As the South African legal system is primarily Roman-Dutch common law, this action forms an integral part in its modern day Law of Things.
The right to use, and receive the fruits of, the property of another.. The usufruct includes the 'ius utendi' and the 'ius fruendi', namely the right to use and to the fruits of the property. One could only, generally, acquire a usufruct over a non-consumable thing. If these rights were extended over consumables it would be termed a quasi-usufruct.
| When one has a servitude over the land of another this right can be broadly classified as a what? | Roman Law of Things
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ius in rem aliena. 'Ius in rem aliena' means a right over the property of another. 'Ius in rem propria' means a right over your own thing/property. An 'actio in rem' is a legal action. 'Res extra commercium' are things which cannot be owned as they are 'things outside of commerce'.
The person who owns a property subject to a usufruct.. 'Nuda proprietas' means bare ownership. As the usufructuary has the right to use and the right to the fruits of a thing, the owner doesn't have all that much left.
| Which type of contract, one of the oldest in Roman law, allowed a creditor to enslave, execute or sell a debtor across Roman borders if he failed to repay the debt? | Roman Law of Contracts
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Nexum. 'Nexum' was the predecessor to 'mutuum'. In terms of this a person would hand themselves over to the creditor as hostage and as such entitle them to the above if they failed to repay the debt. In 326 BC, however, the 'Lex Poetelia' was passed which ameliorated the punishments. This, in turn, meant that the contract became less popular.
| The 'Lex Rhodia de iactu', otherwise known as the Rhodian law, provided for situations where a ship's captain had to jettison cargo to lighten the load on a ship. On whom did it place the immediate liability for this loss? | Roman Law of Contracts
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The ship's captain. The owner of the cargo could institute action to recover the losses from the ship's captain, thereby making him immediately liable. On the bright side, the captain could institute action against the owners of all the other cargo in order to distribute the loss proportionately. This law did not apply if the cargo was eventually saved though.
| If a purchaser found a latent defect in the thing which he purchased, what two actions would be available to him? | Roman Law of Contracts
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'actio redhibitoria' and 'actio quanti minoris'. The 'actio redhibitoria', known in English as the redhibitory action, allowed the buyer to claim a return of performances by which he/she would return the object of the sale and he/she would receive the purchase price back. This was used where the latent defect was so material he could not use the thing for the purpose it was bought. The 'actio quanti minoris' on the other hand was an action which allowed a reduction in the purchase price, and therefore the purchaser could recover some of the purchase price he/she paid.
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