Select Bibliography

 

In what follows (R) indicates that the book, or another edition of it, is in the ILS Reading Room; (D) indicates that there is a copy in my office (512 Hauser). You may use a (D) book in my office any time my secretary is in her office (HA 518) or I am in mine, and my secretary can arrange to let you remove it overnight. (W) indicates that the book is in Widener. The rest of them are in Pound Storage. Leave a note at the ILS Circulation Desk, and they will fetch them for you. If enough people want a particular book, I'll arrange to put it on reserve.

 

 

In addition to Nicholas there are these quite good basic introductions in English:

 

 

(R) W.W. Buckland, A Manual of Roman Private Law, (2d ed. 1939)
(R) R.W. Lee, The Elements of Roman Law (4th ed. 1956)
(R) R.W. Leage, Roman Private Law (3d ed. 1961)

Both Lee and Leage books have the advantage and the disadvantage of following the outline of Justinian's Institutes and containing extensive translations or paraphrases therefrom.

In addition to Kunkel and Wolff there are several good introductions to the history and sources of Roman Law including:

 

(R) H.F. Jolowicz, Historical Introduction to the Study of Roman Law (3d ed. B. Nicholas rev. 1972)
(R) A. A. Schiller, Roman Law: Mechanisms of Development (1978)

 

The best short English account of the "second life" of Roman law is:

 

 

(R) P. Vinogradoff, Roman Law in Medieval Europe (2d ed.
1929)

 

One should not talk long about Roman Law without actually going to the texts. The following lists the basic texts in the editions which have received general approval and some translations, which, unfortunately, have received something less than general approval:

 

(R) Fontes Iuris Romani Anteiustineani (S. Riccobono et al. eds. 3 vols. 2d ed. 1941, 1940, 1943)

 

(R) Institutes, Gaius (2 vols. F. de Zulueta, ed., trans. and commentary 1946, 1953)

Zulueta did a fine scholarly job.

 

 

(R) Theodosiani libri XVI cvm Constitutionibus Sirmondianis et Leges novellae ad Theodosianum pertinentes, 2 vols. in 3 (P.M. Meyer and T. Mommsen ed. 1905)
(R) The Theodosian Code and Novels and the Simondian Constitutions (C. Pharr trans. 1952)

Pharr's translation is first-class.

 

 

(R) The Institutes of Justinian (J.A.C. Thomas ed., trans. and commentary 1975)
(R) Ancient Roman Statutes (A.C. Johnson et al. trans. 1961)

Johnson's is first-class translation and commentary on all the Roman statutes (and some other legal documents) not included in the Corpus Juris Civilis or in the Theodosian Code.

 

 

(R) Corpus Juris Civilis (T. Mommsen, P. Krueger & W. Kroll eds. 3 vols. various dates)

This is known as the "Berlin stereotype edition."

 

 

(R) The Civil Law (S.P. Scott trans., 17 vols. in 7, 1922)

This is a translation of the complete Corpus Juris Civilis and all of the substantial (as opposed to fragmentary) pre-Justinianic works, except for the Theodosian Code. Also includes the Constitutions of the post-Justinianic emperor Leo. The translation is unfortunate in many places, but it is complete.

 

 

(R) The Digest of Justinian (2 vols. C.H. Monro trans. 1904, 1909)

 This is a far better job than Scott but covers, unfortunately, only the first 15 of the 50 books of the Digest.

 

 

(R) The Digest of Justinian (4 vols. A. Watson ed. 1985)

This is a new translation under the direction of a distinguished Romanist. It replaces Scott for the Digest, though Monroe should still be consulted for difficult passages.

The following contain quite full collections of excerpts from the above:

 

 

(R) Breviarium Iuris Romani, (V. Arangio-Ruiz and A. Guarino 4th ed. 1967)
(D) Römisches Privatrecht (E. Scharr ed. 1960)

Scharr is particularly interesting because he gives excerpts from medieval and early modern material illustrating the development of Roman legal concepts.

The literature on Roman Law is extraordinarily rich. Roman Law has been the subject of inquiry of many fine continental scholars as well as a topic studied at the English universities from the 12th century to today. The following can be but a sampling of some of the more noted treatises on some or all aspects of Roman private law:

 

 

(R) W.W. Buckland, Textbook of Roman Law (3d. ed. P. Stein rev. 1963)

Buckland is a fine book to look points up in, but as Dr. Johnson is alleged to have said of Paradise Lost, I do not know of anyone who claims to have read Buckland through.

 

 

(R) J.A.C. Thomas, Textbook of Roman Law (1976)

This is less massive than Buckland and contains an up-to-date bibliography and a fuller description than Nicholas'.

 

 

(R) P.F. Girard, Manuel élémentaire de droit romain (8th ed. F. Senn rev. 1929)

A beautifully lucid exposition, though now out-of-date.

 

 

(R) Max Kaser, Das römische Privatrecht (Handbuch der Alterumswissenschaft 3.3, 2 vols. 2d ed. 1971, 1975)
(R) Max Kaser, Das römische Zivilprozessrecht, id., 3.4 (1966)

 Kaser's three vols. are now the standard text.

 

 

(R) F. Schulz, Classical Roman Law (1951)

This is the work of a "radical interpolationist", but most interesting.

 

 

(R) A. Watson, The Law of Persons in the Later Roman Republic (1967)
(R) Id., The Law of Obligations in the Later Roman Republic (1965)
(R) Id., The Law of Property in the Later Roman Republic (1968)
(R) Id., The Law of Succession in the Later Roman Republic (197l)
(R) Id., Law Making in the Later Roman Republic (1974)

This is the most serious attempt to date to reconstruct Roman Law in the period just before the Classical period. See also:

 

 

(R) A. Watson, Roman Private Law Around 200 B.C. (1971)

 

(R) L. Wenger, Institutes of the Roman Law of Civil Procedure, (O. Fisk trans. 1940)

A truly dreadful translation of a great book.

The following branch out from the law and give accounts of the social and economic conditions which produced that law:

 

 

(R) J. Gaudemet, Institutions de l'antiquité (2d ed. 1982)
(W) M. Rostovtzeff, The Social and Economic History of the Roman Empire (2 vols. 2d ed. 1957)
(W) An Economic Survey of Ancient Rome (T. Frank ed. 6 vols. 1933-40)
(W) Cambridge Ancient History (Bury, Cook et al. eds. 12 vols. 1926-39)
(W) Cambridge Ancient History, 3d ed. (1970- ).

Of this great redoing of a great work twelve volumes have appeared, 1-11, and 13.

The following volumes attempt to deal with Roman Law in a comparative context:

 

 

(R) W.W. Buckland & A. McNair, Roman Law and Common Law (2d ed. 1952)
(R) F.H. Lawson, A Common Lawyer Looks at the Civil Law (1953)
id. (ed.), Roman Law Reader (1969)

For research tools the standard Latin dictionaries include legal terms. An excellent specialized dictionary is:

 

 

(R) A. Berger, Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law, (Trans. Am. Phil. Soc'y. n.s. 43 pt. 2, 1953)

The standard word-list (concordance) for the Digest is:

 

 

(D) Vocabularium Jurisprudentiae Romanae (5 vols., 1903-87)

For words not in the Vocabularium and for more selective examples of those that are:

 

 

(D) H. Heumann & E. Seckel, Heumanns Handlexikon zu den Quellen des römischen Rechts (9th ed. 1907)

A different kind of research tool is a re-ordering or reconstruction of the material:

 

 

(R) O. Lenel, Palingenesia Iuris Civilis (2 vols. 1899)

is a rearrangement of all the then-known fragments of the classical jurists in the order in which the authors wrote them (as opposed to the order of the compilers).

 

 

O. Lenel, Das Edictum Perpetuum (3d ed. repr. 1956)

is a reconstruction of the urban praetor's edict.

For bibliographies almost all of the books cited above contain bibliographies; those in Kaser and Gaudemet are particularly full. Berger has a bibliography with each article, although that is now somewhat out-of-date. Perhaps the best short bibliography of Roman law is:

 

 

(R) J.H. Michel, Droit romain (droit privé), in Introduction bibliographique a l'histoire du droit et a l'ethnologie juridique (t. A, no A/11, J. Gilissen ed. 1972)
(D) A.A. Schiller, Bibliography of Roman Law (1966)

is more complete.

 

 

L. Caes & R. Henrion, Collectio bibliographica operum ad ius romanum pertinentem (multi-vol., 1949- )

is massive and virtually complete for the types of literature and years covered. (It is not clear to me where this will be shelved in the new arrangement of the library. In the meantime Widener has a copy, call number AH 7130.2.)

Last, but certainly not least, are seven relatively recent books that attempt to deal with Roman Law in its social context:

 

 

J.H. Michel, Gratuité en droit romain (1962)
J.M. Kelly, Roman Litigation (1966)
J.A. Crook, Law and Life of Rome (1967)
P. Garnsey, Social Status and Legal Privilege in the Roman Empire (1970)
B. Frier, Landlords and tenants in Imperial Rome (1980)
B. Frier, The Rise of the Roman Jurists (1984)
J.F. Gardner, Women in Roman Law and Society (1987)

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