Roman law has always been and is to this day the basis of all world jurisprudence. The scholars of ancient Rome made an invaluable contribution to the development of this humanities. Apparently, they did not imagine, while still savages in a small settlement between the three hills (Palatine, Quirinal and the Capitol), that their scientific discoveries would be studied after thousands of years in the most reputed universities of world renown.
The invention of the ancient Romans is called Roman law. In the process of studying this historical branch of law, many problems arise that require detailed consideration. To date, lawyers have been able to highlight the system of Roman law, and also found information about the sources of the branch of law. One such source is instruction for lawyers called institutions.
The heyday of Roman private law
In the 1st – 3rd centuries AD Roman private law reached the peak of its evolution. This period is distinguished by historians of state and law as "classical." At this time, Roman lawyers did not just try to legitimize some civil relations between different strata of the population, they deduced patterns, created theories, invented new trends in the development of Roman legal science. The classical period of Roman law led to the emergence of several sub-sectors of this science, namely:
- Public law.
- Private law.
- The Right of the Quirits.
- The right of peoples.
- Praetor Law.
In these sub-sectors, various legal norms have been combined that regulate legal relations in different spheres of Roman life.
But if it was right, then there were lawyers. This begs the question: how did they appear, who (or what) prepared them? The answer is the institutions of Guy, a general description of which will be given below.
Why institutions were created
Before talking about the institutions of the Roman lawyer Guy, you need to figure out what exactly these institutions are. The term denotes a set of rules and legal norms that are included in a single collection used in the process of educating young legal practitioners (in ancient Rome there was no differentiation of lawyers, each of them conducted practical activities, in other words, there were practically no theoreticians). In the Roman Empire of the 1st century AD, there was a strong contradiction between slaves and the free population. The uprisings occurred all the time. Therefore, the task for lawyers was to satisfy the interests of the ruling classes in the field of their property rights over slaves, while not violating the precarious balance in the middle of a free society. They could not allow the outbreak of civil war in the ranks of the free population. Many prominent lawyers have written and published small practical, elementary manuals about their practical work.
Guy's “Institutions”. general characteristics
It is necessary to make a reservation right away that Guy's “Institutions” are an innovation in the world of legal science of that time. The collection incorporated all the necessary qualities, namely: brevity, clarity, conciseness, the availability of examples from judicial practice, accuracy of presentation, clear and clean Latin language, an abundance of historical information. In other words, the Gaev "Institutions" have become the main educational literature for lawyers studying Roman law. Guy's “Institutions” served as the basis for the compilation of the next well-known textbook, which became part of Justinian’s famous codification, Corpus juris civilis.
The Importance of “Institutions”
In the process of studying this source, you need to understand the benefits that Guy's “Institutions” have in themselves. A general characteristic of the legal science of ancient Roman society is precisely the knowledge that must be present in the head of every practicing lawyer. This knowledge is the useful foundation for which this "textbook on Roman law" was created. It is in the “Institutions” that those norms that show Roman law in its early stages of development have been preserved. Guy brought together those norms that existed in the pre-imperial period. Of course, such a legacy is an extremely interesting find.
Sources of the "Institutions"
Not a single legal phenomenon appears out of nowhere, not even Guy's “Institutions”. Sources of this phenomenon existed many years before Guy decided to create this study guide. "Institutions" have a lot of sources, but you can choose the most important, namely:
- The laws of the XII tables are the fundamental source of all Roman law in general.
- Constitution consuls.
- Edicts and decrees of magistrates.
- Sheets on conducting civil proceedings, the practical activities of lawyers.
Guy's “Institutions”, the general characteristics of which are given above, have their own internal structure. The manual for practicing lawyers consists of four books, each of which deals with separate legal norms with notes.
Conclusion
In the article we tried to clarify the question of what the "Institutions" of Guy. The general characteristics and structure are given in the article in order to convey as accurately and completely as possible information about this surviving monument of Roman private law.