Iniuria and the Common Law


Book Description

The delict of iniuria is among the most sophisticated products of the Roman legal tradition. The original focus of the delict was assault, although iniuria-literally a wrong or unlawful act-indicated a very wide potential scope. Yet it quickly grew to include sexual harassment and defamation, and by the first century CE it had been re-oriented around the concept of contumelia so as to incorporate a range of new wrongs, including insult and invasion of privacy. In truth, it now comprised all attacks on personality. It is the Roman delict of iniuria which forms the foundation of both the South African and-more controversially-Scots laws of injuries to personality. On the other hand, iniuria is a concept formally alien to English law. But as its title suggests, this book of essays is representative of a species of legal scholarship best described as 'oxymoronic comparative law', employing a concept peculiar to one legal tradition in order to interrogate another where, apparently, it does not belong. Addressing a series of doctrinal puzzles within the law of assault, defamation and breach of privacy, it considers in what respects the Roman delict of iniuria overlaps with its modern counterparts in England, Scotland and South Africa; the differences and similarities between the analytical frameworks employed in the ancient and modern law; and the degree to which the Roman proto-delict points the way to future developments in each of these three legal systems.







Roman Law and Common Law


Book Description




Borkowski's Textbook on Roman Law


Book Description

Borkowski's Textbook on Roman Law provides a thorough and engaging overview of Roman private law and civil procedure. It is the ideal course companion for undergraduate Roman law courses, combining clear, comprehensible language and a wide range of supportive learning features with the most important sources of Roman law.




"Messages from Antiquity"


Book Description

Roman law has shaped the Civil law tradition but its influence undoubtedly also extends to Common law countries. Legal institutions as well as legal reasoning reassembled in the Corpus iuris civilis have been studied for nearly one thousand years in Western Europe and have been a constant point of reference. Japanese law adopted this tradition since the Meiji-era. Roman law does not only offer a historical insight into the foundations of modern legal thinking, but can also be a useful tool for deeper understanding and analysis of current legal problems. The international seminar held at the University of Kyushu in February 2016 intended to show the validity of Roman law for contemporary legal practitioners facing current challenges by looking at selected issues. Das römische Recht hat die Tradition des Civil law geprägt, aber ohne Zweifel auch das Common law beeinflusst. Die Rechtsinstitute und die rechtliche Argumentation, welche im Corpus iuris civilis gesammelt sind, stehen in Westeuropa seit über tausend Jahren im Zentrum juristischer Studien und bilden auch im Japanischen Recht seit der Meiji-Ära einen wichtigen Bezugspunkt. Allerdings erlaubt das römische Recht nicht nur einen Zugang zu den historischen Grundlagen des modernen Rechtsdenkens; vielmehr kann es auch als Instrument zum tieferen Verständnis und zur Analyse aktueller Rechtsprobleme dienen. Die internationale Tagung an der Universität Kyushu im Februar 2016 verfolgte den Zweck, anhand ausgewählter Rechtsfragen den zeitlosen Wert des römischen Rechts auch für die Herausforderungen der heutigen Jurisprudenz aufzuzeigen.




On the Laws and Customs of England


Book Description

Investigating a wide range of problems in the development of English law, this collection of original essays honors the contributions of Samuel D. Thorne to the study of English legal history from the eleventh to the seventeenth century. The essays combine close study of legal texts and doctrines in their own setting with broader analysis of the interaction of legal and social change. Although each essay has its own historiographical context, a substantial unity is achieved. Originally published in 1981. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.




Courts, Jurisdictions, and Law in John Milton and His Contemporaries


Book Description

John Milton is widely known as the poet of liberty and freedom. But his commitment to justice has been often overlooked. As Alison A. Chapman shows, Milton’s many prose works are saturated in legal ways of thinking, and he also actively shifts between citing Roman, common, and ecclesiastical law to best suit his purpose in any given text. This book provides literary scholars with a working knowledge of the multiple, jostling, real-world legal systems in conflict in seventeenth-century England and brings to light Milton’s use of the various legal systems and vocabularies of the time—natural versus positive law, for example—and the differences between them. Surveying Milton’s early pamphlets, divorce tracts, late political tracts, and major prose works in comparison with the writings and cases of some of Milton’s contemporaries—including George Herbert, John Donne, Ben Jonson, and John Bunyan—Chapman reveals the variety and nuance in Milton’s juridical toolkit and his subtle use of competing legal traditions in pursuit of justice.




The Law of Torts


Book Description




Comparing Tort and Crime


Book Description

First English-language comparative volume to study where, how and why tort and crime interact. Covers common and civil law countries.