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Roman Law: Historical Periods and Sources of Roman Law · Periods of Roman Legal History

How Roman law developed from the priests and the Twelve Tables through the praetors and classical jurists to Justinian's compilation.

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Roman Law · 30 questions

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1. Historians of Roman law call which span of time the 'classical' period?

  1. Roughly Augustus to the mid-3rd century AD
  2. The Twelve Tables to the end of the Republic
  3. Justinian's reign in the 6th century AD
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Answer: Roughly Augustus to the mid-3rd century AD

The classical period runs from about the late 1st century BC to around 235 AD, when the great jurists were active.

2. Why is that period called 'classical' in the history of Roman law?

  1. The empire reached its largest territory
  2. Legal science and jurists' writing reached their peak
  3. Rome first adopted a written constitution
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Answer: Legal science and jurists' writing reached their peak

The label refers to the quality of legal thought: jurists such as Gaius, Papinian and Ulpian produced the writings later treated as the model of Roman law.

3. In archaic Rome, who held the knowledge of legal forms and interpreted the law?

  1. The college of pontiffs
  2. Elected magistrates called praetors
  3. Professional paid advocates
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Answer: The college of pontiffs

Early law was bound up with religion, and the pontiffs guarded the formulas and calendars needed to act at law. The praetorship came later, in 367 BC.

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