Wrongful Damage to Property in Roman Law - by Paul J Du Plessis (Paperback)

About the Book

This volume investigates the peculiarly British fixation with the the lex Aquilia, a Roman statute enacted c.287/286 BCE to reform the Roman law on wrongful damage to property, against the backdrop larger themes such as the development of delict/tort in Britain and the rise of comparative law.

Book Synopsis

Few topics have had a more profound impact on the study of Roman law in Britain than the lex Aquilia, a Roman statute enacted c.287/286 BCE to reform the Roman law on wrongful damage to property. This volume investigates this peculiarly British fixation against the backdrop larger themes such as the development of delict/tort in Britain and the rise of comparative law. Taken collectively, the volume establishes whether it is possible to identify a 'British' method of researching and writing about Roman law.

From the Back Cover

A new assessment of the influence of the lex Aquilia on Roman law in the United Kingdom The lex Aquilia, a Roman statute enacted c. 287/286 BCE to reform the Roman law on wrongful damage to property has had a profound impact on the teaching of Roman law in the United Kingdom. It also continues to be a topic of vigorous academic debate among British Romanists. This book investigates this peculiarly British fixation with the topic of wrongful damage to property in Roman law against the backdrop of larger themes such as the teaching of Roman law during the last century, the development of delict/tort liability in Britain and the rise of comparative law. Bringing together a range of leading experts in the field, the book establishes whether it is possible to identify a 'British' method of researching and writing about Roman law and illustrates that while Roman law scholarship in the United Kingdom constantly engages in dialogue with Continental scholarship, it is also informed by the 'legal culture' of the United Kingdom. Paul J. du Plessis is Professor of Roman law in the School of Law at the University of Edinburgh. His research focuses predominantly on the multifaceted and complex set of relationships between law and society in a historical context. He is editor of Cicero's Law: Rethinking Roman Law of the Late Republic (2016) and New Frontiers: Law and Society in the Roman World (2013) and the co-editor, with John W. Cairns, of Reassessing Legal Humanism and its Claims: Petere Fontes? (2015), The Creation of the Ius Commune: From Casus to Regula (2010) and Beyond Dogmatics: Law and Society in the Roman World (2007) (all Edinburgh University Press). Cover image: Roman art: Scene representing an argument in court. Ostia Antica, 13 x 18 Museo Ostiense (c) 2018. Photo Scala, Florence - courtesy of the Ministero Beni e Att. Culturali e del Turismo Cover design: [EUP logo] edinburghuniversitypress.com ISBN 978-1-4744-3446-1 Barcode

Review Quotes

All disciplines within the legal academy have a unique sense of their own origins, their heroes and villains, even their own fathers to slay. Reflecting sombrely on the 'British love affair with the lex Aquilia', this collection of essays - at its broadest - underlines the importance of disciplinary self-awareness and self-critique in contemporary legal scholarship ... Having developed a candid sense of the field's distinctly British origins and progress, the reader is left assured that it is in much better stead moving forward.--Nicholas Sinanis, UCL "Edinburgh Law Review"

About the Author

Paul J. du Plessis is Professor of Roman law in the School of Law at the University of Edinburgh. His research include Roman law, medieval interpretations of Roman law, Roman-Dutch law, the historical development of the civilian tradition in mixed jurisdictions, and the relationships between law and history and law and society in a historical context. He has secondary research interests in the development of European private law, comparative law and international private law.

Paul is the editor of Wrongful Damage to Property in Roman Law: British Perspectives (Edinburgh University Press, 2018), Cicero's Law: Rethinking Roman Law of the Late Republic (Edinburgh University Press, 2016) and New Frontiers: Law and Society in the Roman World (Edinburgh University Press, 2013). He is the co-editor, with John W. Cairns, of Reassessing Legal Humanism and Its Claims: Petere Fontes? (Edinburgh University Press, 2015), The Creation of the Ius Commune: From Casus to Regula (Edinburgh University Press, 2010) and Beyond Dogmatics: Law and Society in the Roman World (Edinburgh University Press, 2007).