Unveiling Legal Latin: From Ancient Rome to Modern Legal Systems

1. THE MAJOR LEGAL LANGUAGES A Comparativeoverview

2. Major legal languages • Legal Latin • Legal French • Legal English • Legal German

3. Legal Latin

4. Preview • The development of Roman law • Major codifications • Latin in European culture • Latin as the language of European ius comune • Latin in modern legal languages • Communication value of legal Latin

5. Ancient Rome

6. Roman kingdom (753 BC-509 BC)

7. Roman kingdom • The city's founding- traditionally dated to 753 BC with settlements around the Palatine Hill along the river Tiber in central Italy, and ended with the overthrow of the kings and the establishment of the Republic in about 509 BC. • The kings, excluding Romulus, who according to legend held office by virtue of being the city's founder, were all elected by the people of Rome to serve for life, with none of the kings relying on military force to gain or keep the throne.

8. Expansion of the Roman Republic (509 BC-27 BC)

9. Expansion of the Roman Empire (Western: 285-476 AD; Eastern: 300-1453)

10. Beginnings of Roman law • The jurist Sextus Pomponius said, "At the beginning of our city, the people began their first activities without any fixed law, and without any fixed rights: all things were ruled despotically, by kings". It is believed that Roman Law is rooted in the Etruscan religion, emphasizing ritual.

11. Early Roman law • Early law: linked to religion; undeveloped, with attributes of strict formalism, symbolism, and conservatism, e.g. the ritual practice of mancipatio (a form of sale).

12. Mancipatio • a solemn verbal contract by which the ownership of certain types of goods, called res mancipi, was transferred. • effected in the presence of at least 5 witnesses, who must be Roman citizens, and another person who holds a pair of brazen scales. The purchaser, taking hold of the thing, says: e.g. I affirm that this slave is mine according to quiritary right, and he is purchased by me with this piece of bronze and scales). He then strikes the scales with the piece of bronze, and gives it to the seller as a symbol of the price

13. Lex Duodecim Tabularum(450 BC)

14. Lex Duodecim Tabularum(Law of the Twelve Tables) • The plebeian tribune, C. Terentilius Arsa, proposed that the law should be written, in order to prevent magistrates from applying the law arbitrarily • In 451 BC a board of ten men (Decemvirate) was appointed to draw up a code • Formally promulgated in 449 BC • Drawn up on 12 tablets posted in the Forum Romanum

15. Classical Roman law • The first 250 years AD are the period during which Roman law and Roman legal science reached its greatest degree of sophistication. The law of this period is often referred to as the classical period of Roman law. • The literary and practical achievements of the jurists of this period gave Roman law its unique shape

16. Languages of the Roman Empire • Latin – lingua franca between diverse populations of the Empire • Byzantine Empire – Greek • The boundary between the zones of dominance of these languages ran from north to south along the centre of the Empire: it crossed the Balkans and ran along the eastern side of the territories of today’s Tunisia

17. Invasions of the Roman Empire

18. Fall of the Western Roman Empire

19. Germanic laws (5th-9th c.)Leges barbarorum Customary law: local, fragmented; oral, based on careful memorization When justice is oral, the judicial act is personal and subjective Power, whose origins were at once magical, divine and military, was exercised jointly by the king and his warriors

20. CANON LAW • Law of the church courts, • Based on Roman law

21. History • In Western Europe, Roman law as a coherent legal system disappeared with the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 • Maintained at a very high level in the Byzantine Empire

22. Corpus Iuris Civilis (Codex Justinianus, 529-35 AD) • Most comprehensive code of Roman law, compiled under Justinian I, by a commission of jurists

23. Latin in European culture • Thanks to the Catholic church, Latin retained its position in medieval Europe as the dominant written language • Latin – the language of law, religion, science, literature

24. Re-Emergence of Roman Law in the West • C. 1050 Roman law, namely the Justinian’s Code, was re-discovered in Europe • Scholars known as glossators, and later as commentators, interpreted Justinian’s Code and generated an influential body of law and legal literature that came to be known as the jus commune or common law of Europe

25. THE UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA • The oldest university in the world (1088)

26. THE UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA • Students who studied Roman law in Bologna found that many rules of Roman law were better suited to regulate complex economic transactions than customary rules; • Roman law was re-introduced into legal practice

27. Ius comune • The rediscovered Roman law dominated legal practice in most European countries. • A legal system, in which Roman law was mixed with elements of canon law and of Germanic custom

28. Ius comune • Ius comune – common to countries of continental Europe • Lawyers from continental Europe (and some other countries) speak the same conceptual language • Latin – the language of European lawyes

29. NATIONAL CODIFICATIONS • The practical application of ius comune came to an end when national codifications were made • In 1804, the French civil code came into force • In the 19th century, many European states adopted the French model or drafted their own codes

30. Rise of national languages • Strenghtening of nation states - the rise of the national languages as symbols of national identity and a tool of power politics

31. Latin in European Culture • Use of Latin as a language of science began to diminish even in 17th, above all in the 18th c. • France sought to replace Latin with her own national language • End of 18th c. national languages had ousted Latin • Smaller nations, whose languages were not instruments of power in the international arena, kept to the use of Latin

32. Latin in modern legal languages: “Latin is dead – Long Live Latin!” • Although Latin is no longer the language of legal science or of legal practice – leaving aside canon law – it has left important traces in modern legal languages • The style of modern legal languages still reflects the rhythm of legal Latin • A large proportion of the vocabulary of modern legal languages comes from legal Latin

33. Latin in modern legal languages • Modern texts – direct Latin quotations: terms, expressions, maxims • By using Latin expressions and maxims, a lawyer sets out to show his professional competence

34. The Display Function of Latin • A high status value in the Western world • Latin maxims: on the walls of courthouses • Seals of judicial authorities – often adorned with such expressions; • also: emblems of public organs and law societies or bar associations

35. The common heritage of legal Latin • Common heritage - facilitates communication between lawyers from various countries

36. The Communication Value of Legal Latin • However: “each language possesses its own Latin and its own way of using it” • The same expressions and maxims – not used in all countries, and their meaning is not necessarily the same • Today’s lawyers – lack an adequate knowledge of Latin

37. Legal German History and development

38. Preview • The Holy Roman Empire and its languages • Customary law • Reception of Roman law and its linguistic consequences • The role of universities • The impact of Reformation on language standardization (High German) • French influence • Eindeutschung (purism) • Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (BGB) (1900)

39. Fall of the Western Roman Empire

40. Germanic law • Customary law – oral • The first written collections of Germanic law are the so-called Leges Barbarorum(5th century - 9th century - written in Latin and show Roman influence by their use of the technical terms of Roman law • Leges Barbarorum- not legislation in the modern sense but rather the records of customs that were first collected and then declared as law.

41. Leges barbarorum • Dealt with specific situations rather than general rules and focused particularly on court procedure, monetary compensation for acts of violence, and succession on death. • The initiative for declaring law usually came from the king, but the resulting laws normally required approval by the popular assemblies. 

42. Languages of Germanic laws • Latin of medieval Germanic written laws - a mixture of Germanic and Roman styles • In court hearings judges used dialects of Old German

43. Old Legal German • Old legal German, based on dialects – not uniform • Level of abstraction – low: large number of words to describe concrete cases • Use of synonyms or quasi-synonyms

44. Charlemagne • Like the Roman emperors before them, Charlemagne and his successors claimed the power to make laws for all their subjects, irrespective of nation, and without the consent of any assembly. • The validity of the law depended solely on the oral act of the king who promulgated it

45. The Frankish Kingdom

46. Towards ius comune • With the disintegration of the Frankish kingdom in the late 9th century, government became highly decentralized •  the Roman Catholic Church became the main unifying force in western Europe and began to claim jurisdiction over many matters that earlier had been considered secular rather than ecclesiastical. • The canon law was largely influenced by Roman law and contained very few Germanic elements.

47. Towards ius comune • Merchants also found that the old Germanic customary law was inadequate to cope with the problems created by the rapid growth of commerce that had occurred by the 12th century. • A special commercial law, based mainly on Roman law was developed to settle disputes between merchants, without regard to their nationality or place of residence.

48. Towards ius comune • The range of cases that were subject to the jurisdiction of the local courts - reduced. • Some of the earlier Germanic codifications of customary law were forgotten, partly because the local judges were unable to understand Latin and partly because their rules were unsuited to the new social and economic conditions. • The local courts applied an unwritten customary law based on the dominant tribal law of the area, and this formed the basis of such codifications as the “Mirror of the Saxons” in the 13th century.

49. Holy Roman Empire/Sacrum Romanum Imperium/ Heiliges Römisches Reich (800-1806)

50. Holy Roman Empire