The pre-classical period
This period witnessed Rome's ascendancy as the dominant power in the ancient world. By the middle of the third century BC Rome had conquered most of the Italian peninsula and, by the end of the first century BC, she held sway over the entire Mediterranean basin.
It was during this period that the Romans came into direct contact with the Greek world and were fully exposed to the influence of the Greek and Hellenistic culture. But Rome's rapid growth in territory, wealth and political influence had far- reaching consequences for the social and economic life of the later Republic. The new conditions brought about by Rome's expansion generated a social and political crisis which was accompanied by an increasingly violent internal strife, both between rival factions and individuals within the ruling classes and between the aristocracy and various disadvantaged groups. This state of affairs degenerated into an almost permanent state of civil war which led to the erosion and final collapse of the republican system of government.The legal history of this period is marked by the emergence of the first jurisconsults (jurisconsulti or iurisprudentes), a group of jurists who, without being members of the pontifical college, acted as interpreters of the law. Like the pontiffs, these secular jurists were members of the Roman aristocracy. They were men actively engaged in public life and many of them were elected to the highest offices of the state. The main focus of their activities was the giving of legal advice on difficult points of law to judicial magistrates, judges and parties at law. They were also engaged in drafting legal documents, such as contracts and wills, and in advising state organs on legal matters. At the closing stages of this period there appeared the first systematic treatises on civil law - a development associated with the influence of Greek philosophy and rhetoric or Roman legal thought.
The legal history of the pre-classical period is marked also by the development of the ius honorarium or magisterial law as a distinct source of law. As was mentioned before, early Roman law was rigid, narrow in scope and resistant to change. As a result of the changes brought about by Rome's expansion, the Romans were faced with the problem of how to adjust their law so that it might meet the challenges imposed upon it by new social and economic conditions. In response to this problem the lawdispensing magistrates, and particularly the praetors, were given the power to mould the law in its application. A new flexible system of legal procedure was developed, known as the per formulam procedure, under which the magistrates were given much more discretion in deciding whether to grant or to refuse a legal action. Although the magistrates had no legislative authority, by making an extensive use of their right to regulate legal process they did in fact create a new body of law which was progressive and free and subject to continual change and development.
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