NEW FRONTIERS. LAW AND SOCIETY IN THE ROMAN WORLD. Ed Paul J du PlessisEdinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (www.euppublishing.com), 2013. x + 246 pp. ISBN 9780748668175. £75.
| Date | 01 January 2015 |
| Pages | 153-155 |
| Author | Ivan Milotić |
| Published date | 01 January 2015 |
| DOI | 10.3366/elr.2015.0263 |
Law and society coexist in perpetual tension. Social change is reflected in the field of law by causing its continual evolution. At the same time, law changes society because it sets trends and directions in its development. The perpetual tension between these entities can result in a momentary balance, which can be changed considerably shortly thereafter. The ongoing changes and rebalancing of relations between law and society constitute the context of legal-historical institutions, necessitating specific and innovative methodologies for their research. Even before reading the book in hand, if we just take a look at the well reasoned selection of themes and authors, it indicates the editor's intention to promote the “context based” and interdisciplinary approach to the research of Roman legal history. Paul du Plessis' “Introduction”, primarily referring to John Crook's thoughts on “Roman law in social context”, reveals a guiding idea according to which the whole editorial work was executed (this can be seen from the selection of papers and authors, the order of their appearance, and the parts of the book).
The book is a collection of eleven papers which are distributed in four parts: (I) “Perspectives on Roman Legal Thought”, (II) “Interactions between Legal Theory and Legal Practice”, (III) “Economic Realities and Law” and (IV) “Concluding Thoughts”. Contextually, thematically, and methodologically each of these parts is a separate unit.
The first paper, written by J A Howley, gives an insight into Roman legal thought from the perspective of Aulus Gellius, a non-jurist. By examining the diverse legal writings (of Cato, Labeo, Capito, Sabinus, Scaevola etc) not for the purpose of answering a legal question or resolving a case, but rather for utilising their intellectual authority and methodological benefits, Gellius inspired Howley to study the thought of the jurists through
The second paper, written by O Tellegen-Couperus and W Tellegen, provides a critique of a traditional perception of Roman law as a science doctrinally shaped by the jurists which was separated from rhetoric. After re-examining Stroux's and Viehweg's theories, the authors analyse Gaius'
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