roman law

[nokhor]

roman law is usually touted as one of the great benefits they gave to civilization. but what aspects of it did they create that western civilization still retains ? as far as i know, trail by jury, laws being written down, and a lot of other legal precedents were created by other peoples before the romans. what did they add? i am most unfamiliar with this and would appreciate someone explaining it in simple terms [non legaleeze.]

[caesar44]

The Roman low , as a whole , is (as you know) the base of modern western low . again , as a whole .
Btw , the lex Valeria (c. 500 bce) is the first low considering the right of appeal before the people .

[conon394]

The Roman low , as a whole , is (as you know) the base of modern western low . again , as a whole .
Btw , the lex Valeria (c. 500 bce) is the first low considering the right of appeal before the people

Not really; the appeal here is not one of superior court to lesser court but to the people over a magistrates opinion (I think, but for a lot of early Roman history your interpretation of the relative merits of the annalist traditions, and how well they are communicated by Livy or Diodorus, allows for some rather varied interpretations) the right to a fair trial before a random jury of the people clearly belongs to the Athenian democracy. The appeal aspect of the Valerian laws has no real counter in Athenian law only because the Athenian's never invested any magistrate with the power to order executions...

[caesar44]

Not really; the appeal here is not one of superior court to lesser court but to the people over a magistrates opinion (I think, but for a lot of early Roman history your interpretation of the relative merits of the annalist traditions, and how well they are communicated by Livy or Diodorus, allows for some rather varied interpretations) the right to a fair trial before a random jury of the people clearly belongs to the Athenian democracy. The appeal aspect of the Valerian laws has no real counter in Athenian law only because the Athenian's never invested any magistrate with the power to order executions...

So ? it is still was the first time that a citizen could appeal to the people against the Magistrate decision .
Just remember , the Consul acted like a court in the field as all comanders in all ancient civila' , including Athens . again , it was for the first time . never mentiond that it was an appeal against a lesser court to a superior court .

Btw , if you don't belive Livy , Dio , Diodoros , Dionysius , Polybius and the other historians who wrote abuot Rome , why are not questioning the historians who wrote about greece ?

[nokhor]

i know that roman law is supposed to be the basis of western law, but i still don't know; what they added, to what their predecessors did, that is still around today. so caesar44, if i am understanding you correctly, you are saying that the right of 'appeal to the people' over a magistrate is a roman invention. but in a modern day court in france let's say, if a man is convicted of murder, he can't appeal to the t.v. audience to get a different verdict. i hope this helps to clarify what i am asking. what exactly did they create that we still use today? and i don't mean legal terms unless they were the first to create the terms. so the word 'client' wouldn't count even though it is a roman legal term, unless the romans were the ones to introduce the concept of a 'client.'

[Marcellus]

Even if a lot of Roman law had been seen elsewhere before the Romans used it, then it was the Romans who really spread it to places like Britain. I think that because they did this, a lot of laws, even if the Romans weren't the first to use them, are regarded as Roman laws.