Roman Law

Definition

Roman laws covered all facets of daily life. They were concerned with crime and punishment, land and property ownership, commerce, the maritime and agricultural industries, citizenship, sexuality and prostitution, slavery and manumission, politics, liability and damage to property, and preservation of the peace. We can study these laws today thanks to ancient legal texts, literature, papyri, wax tablets and inscriptions.

More about: Roman Law

Timeline

  • 450 BCE
    The laws of the 'Twelve Tables', the basis of Roman law, are compiled.
  • 367 BCE
    Law passed enabling Roman plebians to become consuls.
  • 339 BCE
    The leges Publilae decrees that one of Rome's two censors must be a plebeian.
  • c. 242 BCE
    Special magistrates (praetor peregrinus) begin to oversee legal disputes concerning non-Roman citizens.
  • 131 CE
    The Praetor's Edict is first codified, an annual pronouncement on alterations to Roman law.
  • 212 CE
    Caracalla's edict grants Roman citizenship to all free inhabitants of the Roman Empire.
  • c. 292 CE
    The 'Codex Gregorianus' is compiled, a collection of summaries of Roman legal documents.
  • 295 CE
    The 'Codex Hermogenianus' is compiled, a collection of summaries of Roman legal documents.
  • c. 430 CE - 439 CE
    The 'Theodosian Code', a collection of over 2,700 Roman laws is compiled.
  • 528 CE - 534 CE
    The 'Codex Iustinianus' is compiled, a collection of summaries of Roman legal documents.
  • 533 CE
    The 'Digest' part of the 'Corpus Iuris Civilus' is composed and summarises over 2000 Roman legal documents.
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