Roman law textbook

Author: Pietro Bonfante
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-09-01
Features: Pietro Bonfante was one of the greatest Roman lawyers of Italy and Europe in the first half of the 20th century. He was born in 1864 and died in 1932. He studied at the University of Rome Law School and taught at several Italian universities (University of Camerino, University of Macerata, University of Messina, University of Parma, University of Turin, and University of Bologna), later teaching at the University of Rome for many years. He was also a member of the 1865 Italian Civil Code Revision Committee, which was promulgated in 1942. Bonfante's academic achievements were substantial. Recently, his timeless six-volume Lezioni di Diritto Romano has been republished by Giuffre in Milan. He also wrote Proprietà (two volumes), 552 pages; Diritto Reale, 516 pages; Obbligazioni, 500 pages; and Successioni (General Theory), 566 pages. His other republished works include Storia del Diritto Romano, volumes 512 pages (Volume I) and 342 pages (Volume II); Lezioni sulla Storia del Commercio and Manuale di Diritto Romano. Bonfante's works drew on the research findings of the German Pandectists of the last century, and he had a deep understanding of this school, translating some of its works into Italian and annotating them, contributing to clarifying the original texts (the annotations to Federico Gluck's Commentario ai Diritto Romano and B. Windscheid's Lehrbuch des Pandektenrechts are particularly important). Bonfante's works also incorporated academic perspectives from sociology, ethnology, and economics (he himself translated works such as H. Post's Droit Ethnique and A. Schaube's Storia del Commercio Latinorum del Mediterraneo). Bonfante's works surpassed the achievements of the Pandectists in the field of Roman law. His contributions are reflected in two aspects. He emphasized the historical analysis of various legal doctrines, linking changes in political and social forms to the historical evolution of institutions and their differences in ancient and modern practice. His approach reflected the study of the development of Roman legal institutions from an "organic" holistic perspective, focusing on the interplay between the institution and socio-historical reality. For him, this meant adopting the empirical scientific model of natural sciences, while also ensuring an accurate reflection of the close relationship between society and law. Thus, he strove to overcome the formalism that detached law from society, while not diminishing the attention to the distinctive technical components of law, nor the intrinsic connections and logic of various legal concepts, principles, institutions, and norms. He also worked to counter the tendency of many 19th-century scholars to isolate private law, emphasizing the unity inherent in law itself, that is, unifying the institutions of the Roman people in organization, popular assemblies, government, and priestly groups with the institutions of individual citizens in daily life, family organization, and interfamily relations. In addition to these methodological contributions, Bonfante's scientific achievements were significant in many specific issues, particularly his insight into the "political characteristics" of the Roman family and the "pater familias" power. In the research of the last century, with the division between "private law" and "public law" and the tendency to reduce civil law to private law, the "political characteristics" of the family were no longer observed. However, Bonfante pointed out that the customs of every family regulated its internal life, which was not arbitrarily dictated by the pater familias; in external family relations, the pater familias gathered all family interests under his authority, thus appearing as the "autonomous" ruler of the family, like a monarch of a "political entity," interacting with other families in pre-urban Roman society. Later, the pater familias, in this capacity, formed the Roman urban community, and thus the autonomy of the pater familias led to the autonomy of the Roman city-state. The rationality of Bonfante's perspective is important, as it helps understand why the term "potestas" in Roman law refers to the autonomy and power of the pater familias (Patriapotestas) and the power of the Roman community (potestas populi); it reveals the principle that the individual is a part of the community, and the individual's status lies in participating in the autonomy of the community. Bonfante's insight is reflected in his observation that the "political nature" of the family and the power of the pater familias not only reflect the primitive conditions before the establishment of the Roman city-state but also manifest the reality of the "autonomy" of the civic status throughout the development of Roman law, even when civic status was granted to everyone. For Roman law, this autonomy has a structural "civil" and "political" meaning, even though it carries the so-called "private" color, thus always emphasizing both the interests of the individual and the interests of the Roman people as a community. Bonfante's Manuale di Diritto Romano is a textbook written for university students. It is a classic in this field. It reflects the author's aforementioned methodological views, although it does not include discussions of public law institutions, which are covered in Storia del Diritto Romano. It concisely summarizes the results of an extremely broad examination of Roman law, creating a new type of work that combines systematic theoretical discussions with unprecedented, profound historical narration. Later textbooks sometimes propose new insights on controversial specific issues among scholars; at other times, they provide broader, yet less helpful, discussions for students. However, in no case do they surpass the model of Bonfante's work. Sometimes, later textbooks redescribe early Roman law, classical Roman law, and Justinian Roman law, using the research findings of historians, but this does not diminish the overall image of Roman law. The translation of Bonfante's Manuale di Diritto Romano was initiated by myself, as part of the broader translation project to complement other works. I believe that this work, along with the other writings of my Chinese colleagues, will help people understand the main institutions of Roman law. It will be particularly beneficial for Chinese Roman law scholars, civil law scholars, and other legal workers, especially for young students and law enthusiasts. When reading Bonfante's Manuale di Diritto Romano, it is advisable to consult The Selections from the Civil Code and Justinian's Institutiones for original texts that can support deeper research. This more in-depth research can have dual purposes: on one hand, it can focus on introducing ancient Roman law, its various interpretations, and its development in other countries; on the other hand, it can compare and connect Roman law with the great tradition of Chinese law, providing useful material for the development and perfection of modern law. According to the current translation plan, in-depth research on the various issues discussed by Roman law scholars and the perspectives of different eras is also of great significance for scientific research. Translating relevant collections of specialized essays will help better achieve this goal. Additionally, we plan to translate a work on the history of Roman law, which will provide a more complete understanding of the development of the Roman community system. This translation work was completed based on an agreement reached between Dr. Huang Feng, China University of Political Science and Law (Roman Law Research Center), the Italian "Group for the Study of the Diffusion of Roman Law," and the Department of Roman Law at the Second University of Rome, Department of the History and Theory of Law. This agreement was supported by the Italian "National Research Council." The publication of the entire book was also supported by this council. Sandro Schiavone wrote this on May 23, 1992, in Rome—Beijing.