M2 T2 Evolution of law from the 17th-19th century

Question 1

What happened to the classic Roman law after the fall of the Western Empire in the 5th century?

Answer 1

It entered a period of decline, and would gradually emerge later by successive schools

Question 2

What was the backbone of the codification process of the 19th century?

Answer 2

Corpus Iuris Civilis and the continental universities

Question 3

Which schools of law did the corpus impact?

Answer 3

13th-14th century: Glossators and Commentators

17th-18th century: Natural law

19th Century: Historical School of law

Question 4

What ideas gave rise to the revival of law in the Middle Ages?

Answer 4

Instabilities in Western Europe had people think that law should represent a guarantee of order and stability. Social relations should be governed by law and there should be an end to arbitrariness.

Question 5

What are three trends to the development of the continental legal system?

Answer 5

1. The increase of commercial activities. Trade became an important reason for the need for legal security
2. Law should be secular and be based on justice and reason.
3. The cultural unity allowed for the development of a community of legal thought in the shape of the Roman/Germanic

Question 6

What is the difference between the common law and the continental law in terms of its development?

Answer 6

The continental law did not evolve from political will as in the case of the English Crown.

Question 7

Which important event took place in the north of the Italian peninsula in the 11th century?

Answer 7

The rediscovery of the corpus iuris civilis by Bolognese legal scholar Irnerius

Question 8

What became a cornerstone in the studies of all European universities after its rediscovery in the 11th century?

Answer 8

The corpus iuris civilis

Question 9

Which European city became the capital of European legal teaching and had the first university of law?

Answer 9

Bologne

Question 10

Some characteristics of the first European universities on its study of law

Answer 10

1. Juridical circumstances were not considered important
2. The positive law in force was chaotic and uncertain
3. Focused on finding a method that would create legal rules in accordance with the concept of universal justice
4. Law was a means of social organization: how would just citizens behave

Question 11

What characterized the positive law of the 11th century?

Answer 11

it was based on legal particularism and subject to administrative regulations (usage, customs, statutes of local town legal codes etc..)

Question 12

Medieval education was based on Latin classics. Which two groups did they distribute the seven liberal arts into?

Answer 12

1. Trivium

2. Quadrivium

Question 13

What was studied under Trivium?

Answer 13

Grammar, rhetoric, and logic or dialectic.

The study of law was included in ethics and logic and theology. (Many jurists were priests.)

Question 14

What was studied under Quadrivium?

Answer 14

Arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy

Question 15

Which three categories have been involved in the evolution of Continental law?

Answer 15

1. Theology
2. Canon law (law made within certain Christian churches)
3. Roman law

Question 16

The study of Roman Law rehabilitated the…

Answer 16

scientific development of law

Question 17

What was the aim of the first European universities?

Answer 17

provide legal scholars with terms, methods, classifications, and general legal principles to find the justest solutions for everything

Question 18

What was an important reason for the rise of European juridical science?

Answer 18

the autonomy of Roman law in respect to the national positive law of states. The aim to create a law common to the whole of Europe that united people and respected diversity.

Question 19

What was the ius commune?

Answer 19

same law studied by all. Even those countries that had not been under the Romans.

Question 20

What was the aim of the School of the Glossators in the 13th century, and how did they work?

Answer 20

Aim: explain the original sense of the Roman law

The gloss method: clarify meaning through taking notes in the original texts.

Question 21

What was an important work of the glossators?

Answer 21

Glossa Ordinaria by jurist Accursius contained 96.000 glosses from his predecessors.

Question 22

Which school evolved from the school of glossators in the 14th century?

Answer 22

The school of commentators, also known as the Post-glossators school.

Question 23

What was the aim of the school of commentators?

Answer 23

to adopt Roman law to the social context of the age as institutions such as slavery no longer existed.

Question 24

Which school of law evolved in the enlightenment period(17th and 18th century) and renewed the science of law?

Answer 24

The School of Natural law

Question 25

What important changes took place during the School of natural law?

Answer 25

1. The separation of law studied in universities and the corpus iuris civilis
2. the logical and unquestionable systematization of law
3. Discover principles of fully rational law
4. Construct social order on the study of man, not the will of God
5. Praised the natural rights of individuals through subjective law

Question 26

What were the jurists of the school of natural law inspired by, and what did they seek to proclaim?

Answer 26

the ideal of justice

The rules of a universal law common to all men at all times

Question 27

Which levels of law did Natural law influence?

Answer 27

The public and the private law.

Question 28

How did the School of natural law influence private law?

Answer 28

In no revolutionary way as it did not reject the solutions given by the commentators.

It did not seek to abandon the Roman law but wanted to create a more progressive method that was coherent with reason, justice, and the need of society

Question 29

what view did France have of the Roman law that was supported by the School of Natural law?

Answer 29

It was only valid as a written reason and the corpus iuris civilis did not represent a compulsory source of law.

Question 30

How did the School of Natural law, with the influence of common law, impact public law?

Answer 30

established:

• Natural rights of man
• Secured liberty
• Laid down the structure of states and legal systems

growth of:

• Administrative law
• Procedural law
• Criminal law

Question 31

What represented an expression of the principles created in public law with the influence of Natural law and common law?

Answer 31

The constitution

Question 32

Which school of law evolved in the 18th century and from where did it evolve?

Answer 32

The Historical school of law from the literary trend of romanticism and the philosophical trend of criticizing rationalism

Question 33

what did the jurists of the historical school of law challenge?

Answer 33

The legitimacy of Natural law

Question 34

Which opinions did the German Romanist Savigny express in his work The Vocation of our Age for legislation and jurisprudence?

Answer 34

Opinion: law changes on its own and there is no need for a regulatory authority.

the jurist should verify how the legal evolution occurs and ensure that it has a scientific form

identified the science of law with other sciences such as linguistics and zoology

Question 35

What did Savigny believe to be the sources of law?

Answer 35

the conscience or spirit of the people.

• Custom
• Science
• Legal practice

Question 36

According to Savigny, what must jurists look to in order to understand the evolution of law?

Answer 36

history through the systematization of legal institutions and usages in order to construct general juridical categories

Question 37

What did Savigny believe influenced German law?

Answer 37

Roman law

Question 38

The historical school of law focused on the corpus, but in what way?

Answer 38

rationalizing and systematizing it subject to general principles

Question 39

What was the method of the historical school of law?

What was the object of study?

Answer 39

Juridical principles in history

Roman law