ABSTRACT
A human being, as Aristotle emphasised, is a social being. Over 1915–1988, the beginning and end of a scholar’s life. In 1962, the department of Roman law ordered books and journals to a total of HUF 3,332. Among its goals were the break with the pandectist system, the validation of the historical approach, the separation of medieval terms from the original Latin terminology, the rethinking of the chapter on the history of Roman law, and so on. The annual Plan Completion Report of 1960 of the department of Roman Law emphasized that 'the first draft of a 25-print-sheet monograph' on 'Differentiation Processes in Roman Law' was finished and included by the academic publisher in its 1962 publication plan. Turning over the yellowed pages of Dr. Elemér Polay’s archived dissertation for the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, with corrections in Polay’s own hand, the reader feels appreciation and respect: it is a thoughtful, well-grounded work that reflects on the results of contemporary international science.
