The historical sources of law

Vocabulary notes:

to inscribe	вкрити письменами
to comply	здійснювати
to eliminate	знешкоджувати
to be concerned about/with	турбуватися/ займатися
a jurist	юрист, адвокат
a hand-book	інструкція
to spread over	розповсюдитись
to be influenced by	попасти під вплив
to establish	засновувати, організувати
to reveal	показати, розкрити
thriving	процвітаючий
to set out	викласти (у збірці)
to wander	мандрувати
Hebrew faith	іудейська віра
community	комуна, суспільство
to recount	налічувати, перераховувати
to arrange	систематизувати
to undergo	зазнавати
a set of laws	збірка законів
to experience influences	зазнати впливу
hereditary	успадкований
to remain intact	залишатися без змін
commandments	заповіді
to preside over	очолювати
to hold a central position	посідати центральне місце
to be in use	знаходитись у дії
to sack	пограбувати

 

Task 1. Read the text consulting a dictionary where necessary and pick out the main points about the sources of law in Great Britain.

 

ROMAN LAW

In modern-day Italy, France, Spain, and the countries of Latin America, law codes based on Roman legal principle are still in use. Law in the modern English-speaking countries was also greatly influenced by Roman Law.

The earliest Roman code of laws, the Law of the Twelve Tables, was written between 451 BC¹ and 449 BC. Tradition has it that its authors were a council of ten men who had been selected to rule the Roman state. The Law of the Twelve Tables covered all citizens. It was inscribed on twelve bronze tables set up in the Forum for everyone to see. The Law of the Twelve Tables remained in use for over 1000 years, though the bronze tables were destroyed when Rome was sacked in 410 AD²

The second great set of Roman laws, the Justinian Code, was complied under the direction of Justinian, Emperor of Rome from 483 to 565 AD. Justinian was concerned with elimination of corruption and making justice available to everyone. He established a commission to consolidate the mass of early Roman law. The resulting Code consisted of four works:

all the imperial edicts³;

the Digest⁴, the decision of the great Roman jurists;

the Institutes⁵, which served as a hand-book for law students;

the Novels⁶, or “new laws”, passed by Justinian himself.

By 100 AD, the Roman empire had spread over much of Europe. It remained intact until the fifth century AD. As a result, the laws of all European countries, including France and England, were much influenced by the two Roman codes. However, each experienced other influences as well. The law of France underwent further changes in the late eighteenth century, when Napoleon Bonaparte compiled the Code of Napoleon.

England was ruled by Rome from 55 BC until the early fifth century AD. Therefore, the English system also has Roman law as part of its hereditary roots.

 

Text notes: ¹Before Christ - до нашої ери / до нової ери

²Anno Domini - нашої ери

³edicts - едикти, укази

⁴the Digest - Дигести

⁵the Institutes - Інституції

⁶ the Novels – Новели

 

THE CODE OF HAMMURABI

One of the earliest known collections of codified laws is the Code of Hammurabi¹. Hammurabi was King of Babylon from about 1728 BC to 1686 BC. He had about three hundred systematically arranged laws that existed in his time.

The Code of Hammurabi reveals that the ancient kingdom was a thriving commercial center. Among other business practices, the laws regulated price-fixing², interest changes³, the practice of medicine, and the ownership of slaves. The Code reflected the customs of the period. For example, the sun-god who was also the god of justice, was named as the source if the laws, to give them more authority.

 

Text notes: ¹the Code of Hammurabi - Кодекс законів Хамурапі

²price-fixing - встановлення цін

³interest changes - норми відсотку

 

MOSAIC LAW

Another code of early law is the Code of Hebraic, or Mosaic Law¹ of about 1400 BC. This Code is set out in great detail in the first five books of the Old Testament², which are called the Torah³, meaning “law” or “guidance”. These books recount the forty-year-long wandering of Moses and the tribes of Israel from Egypt across the Sinai desert⁴ to the Promised Land of Canaan⁵. While in the desert, Moses was summoned to the top of Mount Sinai by God, and was given the tablets of the Ten Commandments⁶. Like the Babylonians, the Hebrew compilers believed that their laws were based on the will of God.

Unlike the commercially-oriented Code of Hammurabi, the Mosaic Law reflects the agrarian community over which Moses presided. As a chief law-giver and magistrate, Moses was both a legislator and a judge in the modern sense. The Ten Commandments still hold a central position today in the teachings of both the Hebrew and the Christian faiths⁷. As well, the Mosaic Law firms an important part of the laws of many countries today.

 

Text notes: ¹The Code of Hebraic Law - Закони Моісея

²The Old Testament - Старий завіт

³The Tora - Тора

⁴The Sinai desert - Синайська пустеля

⁵The Promised Land of Canaan - Обітована Земля Ханаана

⁶The Ten Commandments - Десять заповідей

⁷The Hebrew faith - іудейська віра

 

Task 2. Find English equivalents of the following word combinations:

вкритий письменами, здійснювати, знищення корупції, залишатися в дії, зазнавати змін / впливу, інструкція, систематизувати, розвинутий / процвітаючий, очолювати, посідати центральне місце.

Task 3. Match the synonyms:

a code	a hand-book
to set up	to compile
to undergo changes	thriving
highly developed	to reveal
to show	to establish
a reference book	to be influenced by
to draw up	a set of laws
to fulfill	to write a code

 

Task 4. Insert prepositions if necessary:

1. These legal principles are still … use.

2. These codes are based … Roman law principles.

3. Roman law developed … the Law of the Twelve Tables.

4. … this way local rules became a part of Roman law.

5. These laws deal... commerce.

 

Task 5. Using the information in the unit above, discuss the following:

1. There was always law in the community.

2. Influence of the earliest codes on modern law.

 

Task 6. Read and translate the text into Ukrainian:

ROMAN LAW

Traditionally, the study of Roman law is divided into five parts: the laws of persons, of property, of succession, of obligations, and of actions.

The Law of Persons

In early Roman law it was especially important to establish one’s status – free or slave, citizen or alien, male or female, parent or child, and so on – because only then could legal rights and duties be determined. At first it was status in respect to the family that was most important. But as Roman jurists came into contact with other cultures or fell under the influence of Greek philosophy status based on birth gave way in importance to contractual relations. The Romans also created the juristic person or corporation, a fictitious person endowed by the state with the rights of natural persons.

The Law of Property

Property law defined what items could and could not be owned by individuals, described the methods of acquisition and transfer that the legal system would recognize and defend, and noted the extent to which one person's rights in property might be modified or limited by the claims of another individual.

The Law of Succession

The law of succession treated, in cases of intestacy, the passage of property to heirs whose rights depended on their relationship to the deceased. It also regulated the making of wills. As the Roman sense of equity and humanity developed, the right of a testator completely to disregard natural heirs was severely limited.

The Law of Obligations

The law of obligations concerned the rights and duties that rose from commercial pursuits or contracts and also from a number of illegal acts – torts or delicts – which obliged the offender to recompense the injured person.

The Law of Actions

The law of actions contained the procedures to be followed in disputes. It evolved from a considerable dependence on self-help by the plaintiff in the earliest days to an almost complete dependence, from summons to execution, on the state.

Influence of Roman Law

By the time of Justinian most of Western Europe was in the hands of barbarian kings who administered a mixture of their own Germanic Law and earlier Roman law. But in the 11^th century Italian scholars rediscovered and began to study and teach the Corpus Juris Civilis. This happened at the very time that expanding trade and commercial activity made the law of a universal state more appropriate than any other. Thus Roman law became the basis of the law of all Western Europe, with the exception of England. It spread to the New World and is basic in South and Central America, Louisiana, and Quebec; it was adopted in South Africa and Sri Lanka and plays a role in the codes of emerging states. Through Byzantium it reached Russia, where it still furnishes part of the law. The Roman jus gentium (law of the peoples), developed in the republic to govern relations with non-Romans, became the basis of much of modern commercial law.

Vocabulary notes:

the law of persons the law of property the law of succession the law of obligations the law of actions Corpus Juris Civilis

суб’єкти права право власності спадкове право зобов’язальне право позовне право Звід цивільного права