ABSTRACT
The fabric of the entire legal system in the earliest period of Roman history, encompassing the city’s formation to the fifth century BC, was mainly composed of customary norms designated mores maiorum (the ways of our ancestors). Some norms were regarded as components of the human sphere, while others derived their binding force from their supposed divine origin. However, the early Romans did not establish a clear distinction between secular law (ius) and divine law (fas).
