PREFACE
The idea of preparing a Dictionary of Roman Law in encyclopedic form came to my mind soon after my arrival in the United States, as I became more familiar with the status of Roman Law in American schools and legal writing.
The idea grew further while I was workÂing with my friend, Professor A. Arthur Schiller of Columbia University School of Law, on a complete bibÂliography of the Romanistic literature published in EngÂlish since 1939. It became increasingly clear to me that many a reader must encounter great difficulties in underÂstanding the technical language of papers concerned with Roman Law. The severely restricted place occupied by Roman Law in college and university curricula has proÂduced a situation in which it is entirely true that RoÂmani st ica non leguntur.That I finally undertook the work, despite a variety of difficulties, may be attributed in large measure to the warm encouragement I received from scholars in various fields of Roman antiquities. They approved my plan enthusiastically and stressed the usefulness of a dictionÂary as I conceived it, designed for teachers and students of Roman Law in the classroom, for students of legal history who have no or only little Latin, and for readers of juristic or literary Latin works in translations which not always are reliable when legal terms or problems are involved. In particular, the idea of an encyclopedic dictionary with extensive bibliographies met with the approbation of everyone consulted.
Now, after several years of intensive work, after sevÂeral decades of study and research in my chosen field. I may be permitted to offer this Dictionary to all who are interested in ancient Rome’s legal institutions, sources, history, and language, to scholars and students, both beginners and those more advanced, with the wish and hope that the cupida legum iuvcnTus may include in its desire for knowledge of the law that legal system
which, even in our own day, is the foundation and the intellectual background of the law of a large part of the world.
No one is more aware of the deficiencies of a work of this kind than the author himself.
The selection of the entries from all the domains of Roman Law, the mainÂtenance of a proper proportion in presenting the various topics without concessions to those more familiar or more interesting to the author personally, and the necesÂsity of remaining within the limits of a single volume, all created embarrassing difficulties. For the principles of selection and organization finally adopted, the reader is referred to the Introduction.Preparation of the Dictionary would not have been possible if the American Philosophical Society had not been generous with renewed grants-in-aid from the very beginning of the project. I wish to express my deepest gratitude to the Society for this assistance and encourÂagement and for accepting the Dictionary for publicaÂtion in its Transactions.
I am further gratefully indebted to the Mid-European Studies Center of the National Committee for a Free Europe for the helpful interest it took in my work in its later stages. Thankful mention must also be made of the Social Science Research Council for grants in the years 1946 and 1949.
Invaluable assistance was rendered by several colÂleagues who assumed the tedious task of polishing the manuscript linguistically and stylistically. My most sinÂcere thanks are due Professors M. I. Finley of the NewÂark College of Rutgers University, Jacob Hammer of Hunter College, Lionel Casson of New York UniverÂsity, and Naphtali Lewis of Brooklyn College for the service they have rendered to me in true friendship.
A. B.
New York, June 15, 1952
More on the topic PREFACE:
- Preface
- PREFACE
- Preface
- Preface
- Preface
- Preface
- PREFACE
- Preface
- Translators' Preface
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Table of Contents
- TABLE OF CONTENTS