ABSTRACT
The history of Roman law in antiquity spans a period of more than a thousand years. Initially, the law of a small rural community, then that of a powerful citystate, Roman law became in the course of time the law of a multinational empire that embraced the entire Mediterranean world. During its long history, Roman law progressed through a remarkable process of evolution. It advanced through different stages of development and underwent important transformations, both in substance and in form, as it adjusted to changes in society, especially those changes derived from Rome’s expansion in the ancient world. During this long process the interaction between custom, enacted law and case law entailed the formation of a highly sophisticated system that evolved from layers of different elements. But the great bulk of Roman law, especially private law, was the product of jurisprudence, not legislation. This unenacted law was not a confusing mass of shifting customs, but an enduring tradition developed and transmitted by specialists, initially the members of the priestly college of the pontiffs and, in later times, the secular jurists. In the final phases of this process, when law-making was increasingly centralized, this law, together with statutory law, was compiled and then codified. The codification of the law both completed the development of Roman law and formed the means by which Roman law was subsequently disseminated to the modern world.
