SECTION A HISTORY OF ROMAN LAW 



(Hall 11, September 21,3 p. m.) 



SPEAKERS: MR. WILLIAM HEPBURN BUCKLER, Baltimore, Md. 

 PROFESSOR MUNROE SMITH, Columbia University. 



THE RELATIONS OF ROMAN LAW TO THE OTHER HIS- 

 TORICAL SCIENCES 



BY WILLIAM HEPBURN BUCKLER 



[William Hepburn Buckler, member of the Bar, Baltimore, Maryland, b. Paris, 

 France, 1867. University of Cambridge, 1887-91; B.A. ibid. 1890; LL.B. 

 ibid. 1891; University of Maryland, Law Department, 1893-94. Member of 

 the Baltimore Bar 1894 . Author of History of Contract in Roman Law. Cam- 

 bridge, 1893.] 



OUR language has been compared to a vast museum filled with 

 historical monuments which are its words: among these there are 

 few more significant than the word Jurisprudence. To the Romans 

 this meant a knowledge of their own particular law, while for us it 

 has come to denote the science of general legal principles. Thus it 

 confronts us as a record of the past, reminding us that though our 

 laws as they stand may not be of Rome, yet surely their foundations 

 are upon her holy hills. 



The much abused quotation about Peace and her victories is 

 eminently applicable to that quiet but steady extension of the legal 

 influence of Rome which is evidenced by the history, not only of law 

 but of other forms of human activity. Indeed, I think it can be 

 shown that none of the historical sciences, whether of Law, or of 

 Politics, or of Economics, or of Religion, or of Literature, or of 

 Language, or even of Art, lies wholly out of reach of that mighty 

 influence. In whichever of these branches of learning a man may 

 engage, he can fairly say, " luris civilis nihil a me alienum puto." 



To develop this proposition here with anything approaching to 

 completeness would be an impossible task. I can only attempt to 

 indicate its outlines, and to bring out some points of contact between 

 Roman law and the other sciences commonly called historical. 



I 



The first to be considered is the history of Law, since here the 

 connection is, as might be expected, more intimate than anywhere 

 else. A discussion of the influence of Roman law upon other legal 



