ABSTRACT
Law at Rome took many forms. The classical jurists used to say that it was derived from statutes, plebiscites, senatusconsulta, imperial constitutions, magisterial edicts and lawyers' interpretations. 2 They omitted the source that was originally most fruitful, namely custom. Among those they quoted, the last two, for which it would be vain to search elsewhere, gave Roman Law its most original characteristics and explain at the same time its fertility and its flexibility. All these sources were not simultaneously effective; they appeared successively in the course of history, some being almost exhausted when others began to show themselves. But their contributions to the body of Law survived them and preserved their special qualities. A classification had to be made, but it was late and its results are not always clear to us.
