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Title: Roman Law in Context by David Johnston ISBN: 0-521-63961-1 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 28 September, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A very informative, but somewhat dry book
Comment: Johnston's book is basically organized into three sections, thought there is no mention of this structure in the table of contents. The first section introduces the reader to the sources of Roman law (how the law was made, and who made it). The second section discusses the substantive law of family, property, and contracts. The third section discusses litigation (or how the laws discussed in section two worked in practice). At the end of the book, there is a very good glossary of Roman legal terms, followed by an extremely helpful discussion of the Roman legal literature for the serious student of Roman Law to pursue.
Johnston's book does a great job of packing a lot of information into very few pages, but often at the expense of several rereads by the reader. The information is accurate and well-researched, thought it could have been presented better (see next paragraph). However, whether you're new to Roman law, or have studied the subject in depth, you will come away with a better grasp of Rome's legal system, her institutions, and her laws.
Now, for the criticism. I believe that Johnston's book would have been much better if he would have followed his discussion of the sources of Roman law (section I) with the section on litigation (section III, which discusses how the law operated in practice), followed then by a discussion of the substantive law. Johnston's organization, by not doing this, presented the reader with an entire book of disparate and seemingly disjunctive technical material without a mechanism for synthesizing it until the reader reached Johnston's last chapter on litigation. This was the chapter that tied everything together, and it should have been discussed earlier. Only upon reading this last chapter did I finally understood why everything Johnston had told me before was important, and because of this, it looks like I'll be reading this book again to fully appreciate the impact of the previous chapters.
Therefore, I would recommend reading chapter one, then the last chapter, and then the material on the substantive law following the first chapter. Doing so, I guarantee, will save you a lot of head scratching and will enable you to appreciate this book, which is otherwise very good.
Personally, while this book is accessible to the beginner, I would recommend that a reader unfamiliar with Roman law begin with Nicholas' "An Introduction to Roman Law" or Crook's "Law and Life of Rome," both of which are excellent and will better prepare you for Johnston's book.
Rating: 5
Summary: lucid and inviting
Comment: It is hard to imagine a better introduction to the grand world of Roman law and legal history. This is a scholarly and also beautifully written essay on the most interesting cultural creation of the Romans, their law. Recommended most highly.
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Title: An Introduction to Roman Law by Barry Nicholas ISBN: 0198760639 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: December, 1962 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
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Title: Roman Law in European History by Peter Stein ISBN: 0521643791 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 13 May, 1999 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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Title: Digest of Roman Law: Theft, Rapine, Damage and Insult (Penguin Classics) by Justinian, C.F. Kolbert ISBN: 0140443436 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: June, 1979 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: A Short History of Western Legal Theory by John Maurice Kelly ISBN: 0198762437 Publisher: Clarendon Pr Pub. Date: April, 1992 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
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Title: Law and Life of Rome (Aspects of Greek and Roman Life) by J. A. Crook ISBN: 0801492734 Publisher: Cornell Univ Pr Pub. Date: May, 1984 List Price(USD): $20.95 |
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