Our debt to Roman law

Back when I first considered studying law, more than one person said some variant of ‘they use lots of Latin in law, don’t they?’ If this was intended to deter me, it failed; I was completely sold. I had somehow acquired a GCSE in Latin so, de bene esse, I was keen to show off. Imagine my disappointment on discovering that Latin was increasingly discouraged in practice. Personally, I still think this makes the language and culture of law less rich and more distant from its history. The legal and judicial professions really have nobody to blame but themselves; volenti non fit injuria, as we might once have said. 

Even if Latin is in short supply these days, Rome had considerable historical influence on English law – and this is where Geoffrey Samuel’s work comes in. Styled as a historical and comparative introduction to common law, this work is as much about Roman law, its various medieval glosses and other matters ejusdem generis as it is about common law. 

It takes the form of analyses of traditional maxims – mostly in Latin – which are said to express key principles in common law. Using the Roman categorisation of law – persons, things and actions – each maxim’s origin is set out, with a short historical analysis, alongside commentary comparing how common law judges and jurists have approached the same issues. It is striking that so many elements of Roman law find echoes in – or have fundamentally influenced – common law. Indeed, in a number of cases, common law judges have simply adopted the principles of Roman law to fill gaps, as if they form a general ius gentium. One might suggest it does common lawyers no harm to be reminded of the debts that common law owes our civil law colleagues. 

This work is, frankly, an odd duck – or perhaps an anas singularis. It is certainly not a case of res ipsa loquitur. It is not quite comparative law; it is not really legal history; it is as much about Roman law as common law. It is unclear precisely who it is aimed at. As someone interested in legal history, it made for a fascinating read, although I suspect the subject matter would not appeal to everyone. 

James E Hurford is a solicitor at the Government Legal Department, London