Assignament 3

Post Classical Period

Period: 284 to 565

During the dominate the emperor concentrates all the powers that belonged to the senate and the people. It was called Dominate because of the then popular expression Dominus et Deus. The emperor obtained the power through the military force. From this point on Law equals imperial constitutions.
There were three different tipes:
- General laws
- Special laws
- Pragmatica

Division of the Roman Empire into EST and WEST Empire

285

Diocletian divided the empire for a better administration of it into the western empire and the eastern Empire.

Diocletian Reign

Period: 289 to 305

Diocletian tried to solve the problems of the Roman empire that was in an economical, social and political crisis, and recover de power the empire.

Codex Gregorianus

291

This were prepared by jurists that thought they were needed to put order in all the knowledge therefore they were private.

Codex Hegemonianus

291

Tetrarchies

Period: 293 to 324

Diocletian also created the Tetrarchy (2 Augusti (senior), 2 Caesars (Junior) ) West → maximian vs (Aug) and Constantinos (Cae)
East → dioclecian (Aug) and Galenius (Cae) This system finished when dioclecian died due the negative of the military to follow this political order.

Foedus between Romans and Visigoths

418

Romans and Visigoths sign an agreement by which the Visigoths acquire the right to settle in Aquitaine and in return defending the borders of the empire from the attacks of other barbarian populations.

Law of citations

426

In trials you could only citate Papinianus Paulus, Ulpianus, Modestinus, Gaius

Fall of the Western Roman Empire

476

Euric code

476

Euric (466-484) published a code of Visigothic law, which, until then, had been preserved through oral tradition.

Breviary of Alaric

484

The Breviary of Alaric, also known as Lex romana visigothorum, is a code that brings together roman leges and iura of classical period.

An age without jurists

Period: 500 to 1000

In early middle ages jurists dissapear as a proffesional category due to:
-social problems (hunger, plagues and epidemics)
-need of survival
-iliteracy
-lack of teachers
-collapse of the cultural elite
-jurists were not prepared to interpret law They needed interpretation to understand laws
Law was not a specific science

Western and eastern empire

501

Western empire had already dissapeared: -legal culturer was poorer and in crisis
-Jurists could read law but not understand tecnhical terms. In eastern empire the situation gets better -Constantinople, Berytus and Alexandria were cult
-Justinian did great things

The roman law of the Visigoths

506

an anthology as law by Alaric, king of visigoths

Justinian's Reign

Period: 527 to 565

He was the last emperor who tried to recover the Roman empire's old power and extension . He had 3 objectives:

• Territorial unification. (failed)
• Religion peace. (failed)
• Restore old Roman law (succeeded)

He did the most important compilations of laws ever made that make us able to study the details of Roman law and it's caracteristics. Codex (code), Digesta (jurisprudence), Instituta (books for teaching), Novellae (latest statutes).

Justinian´s code

529

Part of Corpus Juris Civilis
Codification of Roman law

Justinian´s Digest

530

Is a compendium of juristic writings on Roman law

Justinian´s Institutes

533

Component of Corpus Juris Civilis
Is based on Institutes of Gaius

Justinian´s Novellae

535

Varius laws enacted

Codex revisus

568

The king Leovigild (569-586) revised the Euric code.

Liber Iudiciorum

654

The Liber iudiciorum, published by King Recceswinth, is a set of laws promulgated by several visigoth kings. It's the first legal work that reflects a separation between Visigoth law and Roman law. It was applied to all citizens equally (territorial character) and it was obligatory in trials.

The renaissance 11th and 12th centuries

Period: 1000 to 1200

First half of 11th century

Period: 1000 to 1050

Feudal system

1001

Society was divided in:
- King, unlimited power

- Clergy, those who pray
- Novels, those who fight
- Peasant, those who labor, consisting on the 90% of the population
But legal professionals, jurists, were not included in this structure. Also, commerce was excluded, considering trade as a bad activity in that times because it was a practice to obtain an illicit gain.

Second half of 11th century

Period: 1050 to 1100

Life of Irnerius

Period: 1050 to 1130

The life of Irnerius spanned the years between the eleventh and twelfth centuries (he died around 1130). He was a mythical figure who symbolized the rebirth of European jurisprudence in Bologna.
The novelty of Irnerius' work lay above all in the idea that the texts of the Justinianic compilation (the libri legales, as they were called in contemporary sources) could be used to give a concrete answer to anyone who wanted to defend his interests with the law rather than with arms.

Economic revolution

1051

Started a radical renewal. New developments appeared, such as agricultural innovations: Economic revolution.
- Canons of manual and professional operations fall with this new methods.
- This increased the food to sell, which made cities grow
- Appeared new urban cities and new social clases: the figure of merchants
Merchant and jurists were turn into important figures in the cities: the trade was needed since the revolution, and for this trade people needed rules.

Jurists

1052

Legal concepts started to reappear, but jurists didn’t know a lot of it because their work wasn’t relevant until that time (talking about the 11th century) and they didn’t conserved it.
- They needed to rediscover the law

Easter and Western churches

1054

1054: The Church split into the Eastern and the Western churches.
In relation with religion institutions, monasteries and cathedrals helped to create Universities and schools.

Dictatus Papae, Gregory VII

1075

1075: Dictatus Papae, by Gregory VII, who wanted to reform the canonical life.
This started the investiture conflict, a problem between the King and the Pope over the ability to choose bishops.
Before that, it was thought that God had created two worlds: one was religious, held by the Pope; and the other was political, held by the Emperor, and both of them could live in harmony if each one (Pope and Emperor) keep authority in their own realm.

Bologna

1088

The university of Bologna was found in 1088. Why was the city so important and such a hotspot in terms of the teaching the law. First of all it was a city.. more it was a important city in terms of trading. Therefore laws, contracts and property rights were very important. The only problem was that its was very hard to recompose the corpus. It was hard to get materials at that time.
In order to study ius commune was necessary to have books but it was difficult to find and copy books.

12th century

Period: 1100 to 1200