Roman Law Course

Lesson 1 • Origins and Historical Context

Traces Roman law from the early Republic through the Empire, situating it within Mediterranean political history. Provides the chronological backbone for all subsequent doctrinal study.

Lesson 2 • Structure of the Roman Legal System

Maps the courts, magistrates, and procedural bodies that administered Roman law. Grounds students in institutional context before engaging with substantive rules.

Lesson 3 • Roman Legal Methodology

Examines how Roman jurists reasoned, interpreted, and applied legal rules. Connects juristic method to the practical outcomes seen throughout the course.

Lesson 1 • Citizenship and Alien Status

Covers the rights attached to Roman citizenship and the legal position of non-citizens. Shows how citizenship expansion affected the reach of Roman private law.

Lesson 2 • Legal Personality and Status

Defines the Roman concept of persona and the three elements of full legal status. Establishes the baseline for understanding who could hold rights and bear obligations.

Lesson 3 • Slavery and Manumission

Examines the legal condition of enslaved persons and the formal processes for liberation. Connects slave law to property, contract, and family doctrine.

Lesson 1 • Acquisition of Ownership

Covers the formal and informal modes by which ownership was transferred or acquired originally. Students trace how title passed in Roman commercial and civil life.

Lesson 2 • Classification of Things

Presents the Roman taxonomy of res and its legal significance for determining applicable rules. Directly shapes which acquisition and transfer rules apply.

Lesson 3 • Limited Real Rights

Examines servitudes, usufruct, and other rights in another's property. Shows how Roman law balanced ownership with third-party interests in land and goods.

Lesson 4 • Possession and Its Protection

Distinguishes possession from ownership and explains the interdicts used to protect possessory interests. Bridges property and procedural law.

Lesson 1 • Performance and Discharge

Covers the modes by which Roman obligations were extinguished, from payment to novation. Connects discharge rules to remedies and breach consequences.

Lesson 2 • Nature and Sources of Obligations

Defines obligatio as a legal bond and surveys its recognised sources in Roman doctrine. Frames the entire law of obligations for subsequent chapters.

Lesson 3 • Breach and Liability Standards

Examines dolus, culpa, and custodia as standards of liability for non-performance. Establishes the fault framework applied throughout contract and delict law.

Lesson 1 • Verbal and Literal Contracts

Covers stipulatio and the formal contracts requiring spoken words or written entries. Shows how formalism shaped early Roman commercial practice.

Lesson 2 • Contractual Remedies and Actions

Maps the actions available for breach of each contract type and the measure of damages. Integrates procedural law with substantive contract doctrine.

Lesson 3 • Real Contracts

Examines contracts perfected by delivery of a thing, including loan, deposit, and pledge. Connects real contract rules to property and security law.

Lesson 4 • Innominate Contracts and Pacts

Covers agreements outside the named categories and the praetorian enforcement of bare pacts. Shows the evolution of Roman contract law toward greater flexibility.

Lesson 1 • Furtum and Rapina

Analyses theft and robbery as the primary property-based delicts, including their elements and penalties. Connects to property law concepts of possession and ownership.

Lesson 2 • Praetorian Delicts and Liability

Surveys delicts created by praetorian edict, including fraud, duress, and liability for employees. Demonstrates the praetor's role in expanding delictal protection.

Lesson 3 • Concept and Structure of Delict

Defines delict as a private wrong giving rise to a penal action and surveys the recognised delicts. Distinguishes Roman delict from modern tort and criminal law.

Lesson 4 • Damnum Iniuria Datum

Covers the delict of wrongful damage to property under the Aquilian framework and its juristic expansion. Central to understanding Roman negligence liability.

Lesson 1 • Protection Against Disinheritance

Analyses the querela inofficiosi testamenti and the compulsory portion owed to close relatives. Demonstrates the tension between testamentary freedom and family protection.

Lesson 2 • Testamentary Succession

Analyses the formal requirements for a valid Roman will and the capacity to make or receive one. Establishes the framework for legacy and trust provisions.

Lesson 3 • Intestate Succession

Covers the order of succession when no valid will exists, from the Twelve Tables through praetorian reform. Connects family law concepts to inheritance outcomes.

Lesson 4 • Legacies and Fideicommissa

Examines the four types of legacy and the trust-like fideicommissum as modes of specific gift. Shows how testators directed assets beyond the universal heir.

Lesson 1 • Legis Actiones System

Covers the earliest Roman procedural forms, their rigid oral requirements, and their decline. Provides the historical baseline for understanding later procedural reform.

Lesson 2 • Formulary Procedure

Examines the formula as the written instrument directing the iudex and its component parts. Central to understanding how Roman law was practically enforced in the Republic and early Empire.

Lesson 3 • Judgment and Execution

Covers the rendering of judgment, its effects, and the mechanisms for enforcing decisions against debtors. Completes the procedural cycle from claim to satisfaction.

Lesson 4 • Actions, Defences, and Remedies

Surveys the taxonomy of Roman actions, the defences available to defendants, and non-judicial remedies. Integrates procedural tools with substantive rights studied earlier.