Roman Law and Contemporary History Law

The Course on Roman Private Law will be dedicated to the evolution of private law in ancient Rome between 753 BC, the conventional date of the foundation of the city of Rome, and 565 AD, the year of the death of Emperor Justinian. The lectures aim to outline the fundamental lines of the most significant institutions and categories of the Roman Private Law, with the aim of recovering the historical roots of basic concepts of continental juridical tradition.
The lessons will focus on the following topics:
- Periodization and sources of Roman Privat Law.
- The Law of Persons: legal capacity; legal status; citizenship; status familiae and patria potestas.
- The Law of Property: classification of things; real rights (ownership and real rights in property belonging to another); possession; modes of acquisition and judicial protection of real rights and possession.
- The Law of Obligations: the obligatio romana and the concept of vinculum iuris in the thought of Roman jurists; the sources of obligation; contracts and delicts; the life of the obligatory relationship.
- The Law of Actions: Roman law of procedure and its historical stages of development.

The course is aimed at outlining the features of the history of law in Europe in the contemporary age (18th-20th centuries). It focuses on the fundamental aspects of the evolution of legal thought and the sources of law in Italian and European history from the eighteenth century revolutions to the twentieth century. Particular attention will be paid to the constitutions and codes of the early nineteenth century, to Italian legislative unification, to the legislative activity of the liberal age, to the codes of fascism and to the genesis of the constitutional state after the Second World War.
Particular emphasis will be given throughout the course to the relationship between legal thought, legislation and legal practice, as well as to the links between legal history and the political, social and ideational history.
The program will therefore be roughly divided into:
- American and French Revolutions
- the Napoleonic and Austrian codifications;
- the constitutions and the Albertine Statute;
- the Kingdom of Italy and legislative unification;
- law in the liberal age and fascism

Institutions on Roman private law is dedicated to the evolution of private law in ancient Rome between 753 BC (conventional date of the foundation of Rome), and 565 AD (year of the death of Emperor Justinian). The lessons will outline the fundamental development of the most significant institutions of Roman private law, with the aim of recovering the historical roots of modern legal institutions.
Main topics of the course are the following:
· Periodization and sources of Roman law.
· Roman law of procedure and its historical development.
· Family law: legal capacity, legal status, citizenship, status familiae.
· Law of property: classification of things, ownership and real rights in property belonging to another; possession; acquisition and legal protection of property and possession.
· Obligations: sources of obligations; types of contracts, quasi-contracts, delicts and quasi-delicts

The course focuses on the fundamental aspects of the evolution of legal thinking and the sources of law in Italian and European history between the 19th and 20th centuries, with particular attention to the contitutions and codes of the early 19th century, the Italian legislative unification and legislation in the second half of the 19th century, the fascist codes and the genesis of the constitutional State.
Particular emphasis will be given to the relationship between legislation, doctrine and practice, as well as the links between law, politics, society and culture.
Summary of the course: American and French Revolutions; French and Austrian codes; constitutions and the Albertine Statute; Italian kingdom and legislative unification; law during liberal period and fascist regime.