This historical introduction to Roman law is written primarily for law students whose course includes legal history. It may also be useful to classicists and historians. Nowadays no lecturer dare assume that law students have a thorough knowledge of classical antiquity. I have therefore given considerable attention to the socioeconomic and political factors that influenced the development of the law. This book was written originally as a textbook for Dutch law students and has been used successfully for a number of years now. Professor P.B.H.Birks (All Souls, Oxford) suggested that an English version of the text might be useful in law courses at universities in the English-speaking world. As I read through the English translation I became more critical of the original text and decided that certain points needed to be clarified and adapted. In particular the section on the formulary procedure seemed to require more detailed treatment since it played a crucial role in the development of Roman law. I have also compiled some explanatory notes for the English version and I refer to sources and background literature. Because the text is now intended for English-speaking countries I have referred mainly to literature written in English. As a basis for ancient history I have used A History of Rome by M.Gary and H.H. Scullard (Macmillan, 1975); for more detailed information about the juridical elements I always refer to A Historical Introduction to the Study of Roman Law by H.Jolowicz and B.Nicholas (Cambridge University Press, 1972), but the information given in these books has been supplemented by references to more recent literature. This work could not have been completed without the help of a number of people. In particular I should like to thank Peter Birks for

The history of Roman law falls into two distinct periods. Roman
law originated and developed in classical antiquity and culminated
with the legislation of Justinian in the sixth century. The second
period, although beginning in the sixth century, did not really
become important until the end of the eleventh century. Then it was
‘rediscovered’ and began to be studied in the whole of western
Europe.
This book concentrates on Roman law in classical Antiquity and
covers a period of more than a thousand years. Since this period is
really too long to deal with as a whole, it has been divided into a
number of shorter periods. However, although Roman law went
through many stages of development the stages cannot always be
clearly distinguished. The reason is that law generally develops very
gradually. In this survey emphasis is on the political structure of the
Roman empire. This is the field that scholars have studied the most
thoroughly and therefore it provides a suitable framework for the
history of law as presented in this book. For each period there is
first a brief survey of the sources of our knowledge, of the territory
under Roman rule and of the socio-economic situation at the time.
Then the political development is discussed. Nearly all these factors
influence the way in which law is formed. The last chapter of each
part deals with the development of the law during the period in
question.
 

تاريخ القانون الروماني يقع في فترتين متميزتين. الرومانية
نشأ القانون وتطويرها في العصور القديمة الكلاسيكية وبلغت ذروتها
مع تشريع جستنيان في القرن السادس. الثاني
الفترة ، على الرغم من أن بدأت في القرن السادس ، لم يفعل ذلك حقا
أصبحت مهمة حتى نهاية القرن الحادي عشر. ثم كان
"أعيد اكتشافه" وبدأت دراسته في كل الغرب
أوروبا.
يركز هذا الكتاب على القانون الروماني في العصور القديمة الكلاسيكية
يغطي فترة تزيد عن ألف سنة. منذ هذه الفترة
حقا وقتا طويلا للتعامل معها ككل ، وقد تم تقسيمها إلى
عدد الفترات الأقصر. ومع ذلك ، على الرغم من أن القانون الروماني ذهب
خلال العديد من مراحل التطوير ، لا يمكن أن تكون المراحل دائمًا
متميز بوضوح. والسبب هو أن القانون يتطور بشكل عام للغاية
تدريجيا. في هذا الاستطلاع التركيز على الهيكل السياسي لل
الإمبراطورية الرومانية. هذا هو المجال الذي درسه العلماء أكثر من غيرهم
بدقة وبالتالي فإنه يوفر إطار عمل مناسب لل
تاريخ القانون كما هو موضح في هذا الكتاب. لكل فترة هناك
أول مسح موجز لمصادر معرفتنا ، للإقليم
تحت الحكم الروماني والوضع الاجتماعي الاقتصادي في ذلك الوقت.
ثم يتم مناقشة التطور السياسي. تقريبا كل هذه العوامل
التأثير على الطريقة التي يتم بها تشكيل القانون. الفصل الأخير من كل
الجزء يتناول تطوير القانون خلال الفترة من
سؤال.