Roman law in the twentieth century
With the enactment of the German Civil Code on January 1, 1990, Roman law ceased to be directly applicable as a legal source in any European legal system. As result, following in the footsteps of Theodor Mommsen (18171903), the dean of classical studies in the nineteenth century, and Otto Lenel (1849-1935), Roman law research became more a historical matter, separate from legal practice.
Roman scholars were focused on the reconstruction of the classical Roman legal sources. In this context, they developed a method of identifying interpolations (the “hunt for interpolations”) coming from postThe revival of Roman law 105 classical editors or Justinian’s compilers. Today, the approach to interpolations is more cautious.
The study of Roman law was also located as a part of the wider context provided by ancient legal history (Antike Rechtsgeschichte) within the province of the sciences of antiquity (Altertumswissenschaften). Scholars studied the relation between Roman law and other laws of antiquity, especially Greek law and Mesopotamian law. Roman law scholars were also focused on the interdisciplinary study of epigraphy and papyrology as long as the discovery of new inscriptions and papyri provided significant new information on Roman law. Leading this approach was Ludwig Mitteis, who was the teacher and mentor of a new generation of great German Roman scholars, such as Leopold Wenger (1874-1953), Paul Koschaker (1879-1951), Fritz Pringsheim (1882-1967), and Ernst Rabel (1874-1955), one of the founders of modern comparative law.
In Italy, Vittorio Scialoja (1856-1933), greatly influenced by Windscheid, led a new generation of distinguished Roman scholars. Prominent representatives of the Italian school were: Pietro Bonfante (1864-1932), Salvatore Riccobono (1864-1958), and Vincenzo Arangio-Ruiz (1884-1964). From the end of the Second World War to the end of the twentieth century, three great scholars led research of Roman law: Max Kaser (1906-97), Franz Wieacker (1908-94), and Wolfgang Kunkel (1902-81). Rooted in the German neohumanism of the late nineteenth century, Kaser represents the systematic approach to Roman law, while Wieacker and Kunkel represent the historical approach. Some contemporary scholars are expanding the social context of Roman law and developing a new social approach for the study of law in the Roman world.
Recently, the European Union has produced a revival in the study of Roman law, and specifically, in the European ius commune and the civil law tradition. According to a new approach, Roman law, as an icon of unity that goes beyond national boundaries, offers the background and the theoretical method for building up a European private law.
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