Classical Roman law
The classical period of Roman law provides the best comprehensive framework of the development of Roman law, and it became the model for later generations of legal actors. This classical period stretched from about the last century of the Roman Republic to the end of the Principate (284 ce).
It is also common to locate the beginning of the classical period in the promulgation of the lex Aebutia (around 130 bce), which promoted the so-called formulary procedure, and to mark the close of this period around 230 ce, some decades before the end of the Principate, with the murders of the jurist Ulpian in 223 ce and the Emperor Alexander Severus in 235 ce. This period is called classical because of the imagination and creativity of the emerging class of Roman jurists and the harmony and elegance of their legal science. The rise of a selected group of jurists developing a refined technique of legal reasoning for the resolution of legal conflicts, and the formation and expansion of theBasic legal concepts and values 5 so-called formulary procedure, are traditionally considered the two features that characterize this classical period of Roman law.
Primitive Roman law emphasized an excessive adherence to prescribed forms and rituals. Without the observance of these steady formalities, the manifestation of the will of a citizen was considered legally ineffective. It was the solemnity of the forms, the formalities, and not agreements or intentions, that produced legal consequences. A defect of will (fraud or mistake) did not affect the validity of a legal act or its legal effectiveness. Classical Roman lawyers, however, mitigated formalism and promoted an increasing flexibility. They developed a good balance between the required formalities demanded by the need for certainty, and the necessary elasticity required to protect individual or collective consent, rights, and wills.
During the classical period, Roman lawyers applied new abstract methods of thought imported from Greek culture. This allowed, for instance, the development of the idea of ownership as a right; the idea of consensual contract as a sort of legal obligation; the idea of good faith as a pillar of some reciprocal legal relations; and many other ideas and concepts at the heart of the Western legal tradition. Finally, classical Roman law also fostered the use of writing in the legal field. That happened specifically in the area of litigation with the introduction of formulary procedure, which provided a new remedial structure for the resolution of legal conflicts based on a written document (formula) approved by the praetor at the request of the parties. The link between the classical period and legal procedure is so strong that the classical period ended along with the fading of formulary procedure around 230 ce.
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