The Civil Law Tradition In Historical PerspectiveOrder Description
This is a Study Questions regarding to a class of Comparative Law. There are 33 Questions,

Study Questions

1.In what sense have there been “two lives” of Roman law, and when did each of those “lives” begin?

2.When and why were the LexDuodedmTabularum (Twelve Tables) enacted, and what is their significance?

3. In early Roman times, what was the main function of:
(a) The praetor?
(b) The jurists {jurisconsults)?
(c) Thejudex?.
(d) The edict?
(e) The formula?

4. How was the pere8rine praetor different from the regular (“urban”) praetor?

5. What was the jus gentium and what was it used for?

6. What was the “classical period of Roman law, and how do we know about the writings of the classical jurists?

7. Why were the contributions by Gaius and UIpian especially important?

8. What were some characteristics of Roman law in the century or two before thefall of Rome?

9. When, why, and by whom was the Corpus JurisCivilis prepared?

10. What were the four parts of the Corpus JurisCivilis, and how did they differ from each other?

11. What does Merryman mean when he says that Justinian was “a reactionary” and “a codifier”?

12. In what sense was the Digest (i) authoritative, (ii) disorganized, (iii) binding, and (iv) Christian in its outlook?

13. What, and when, were the “Dark Ages (and was there light anywhere)?

14. How did the Roman law become “barbarized” or “vulgarized” following thefall of the Roman Empire?

15. What role did the Church play in law during the “Dark Ages”?

16. When, where, and by whom was the Digest rediscovered (in the West)?

17. How might the development of the civil law tradition have been different hadthe Digest not been rediscovered when it was?

18. Why was the Corpus JurisCivilis, and particularly the Digest, an attractive source to use in studying and teaching law in Bologna and other universitiesbeginning in the 12th century?

19. Who were the Glossators, and what was their role—and their significance tothe development of the civil law?

20. What was the aim of Gratian’s Decretum, and how did that work relate to the work of the Glossators?

21. Who were the Post-Glossators (Commentators), and what was their role— and their significance to the development of the civil law?

22. What was the ususmodernusPandectarum?

23. When and why did commercial law start becoming more sophisticated in western Europe, and in what sense did it interact with Roman civil law and canon law?

24. What was the jus commune and what were its main components?

25. What is the meaning (in this context) and the significance of the terms reception and “pluralism”?

26. What sort of “revolution’s” occurred in western Europe around the 16th,17th, and 18th centuries that dramatically changed attitudes not only towardpolitical matters but also toward law?

27. How did the rise of the nation-state in Europe assure that Roman law wouldgenerally prevail over canon law?

28. In what ways does the French codification experience illustrate the following:

(a) The shift toward centralization of political and law-giving authority?
(b) The interaction between customary law, the law of the jus commie national law?
(c) The desire to bring rationality to law?
(d) The significance of a single powerful individual in triggering legal change?

29. What was the intended “audience” of the French Civil Code?

30. What are some important ways in which the German codification experiencediffers from the French codification experience?

31. Which of the two civil codes—German or French—was more “effective”?

32. What evidence is there that the process of “territorial compartmentalization” of the jus commune in Europe, which occurred with the rise of the nationstate, might reverse itself?

33. In what year did each of the following events occur?

(a) The issuance of the Twelve Tables?
(B) The division of the Roman Empire by Diocletian
(C)The issuance of the Edict of Milan
(D)The fall of Rome to the Ostragoths
(E) The issuance of the Digest
(F)The crowning of Charlemagne as Emperor of the Romans
(G)The publication ofAccursius’ GlossaOrdinaria
(H)The publication of Gratian’s Decretum
(I)The publication of Hobbes’ Leviathan
(J)The conclusion of the Peace of Westphalia
(K)The outbreak of the French Revolution with the storming of the Bastille
(I)The issuance of the French Civil Code
(m) The political unification of Germany
(n) The completion of the German BGB
(O) The reaching of the 3 billion mark for the Earth’s population
(P) The reaching of the 6 billion mark for the Earth’s Population