Source: http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/cdonahue/courses/ReadingGrp/
Timestamp: 2015-08-27 22:46:29
Document Index: 449111369

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1', '§ 8', '§ 1', '§ 97', '§ 1', '§ 88']

Introduction to Roman Law: Reading Group Roman Law: Reading Group Harvard Law School: 42235A-1
Charles Donahue Meeting Time: M 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM, WCC Room 4061
Professor Charles Donahue
Roman law had great influence on the legal systems of Continental Europe and
less, but still significant, influence on the Anglo-American legal system.
This reading group is �An Introduction to an Introduction to Roman Law�, in
lieu of the three-hour course �An Introduction to Roman Law� (which cannot be
offered this year). It will meet, basically every week, in the first half of the semester. We will read in translation Gaius’ Institutes, a textbook for first-year law students written
in the second century of our era. We will use Hans Julius Wolff�s Roman Law:
An Historical Introduction for background. No previous knowledge of either Latin or of
Roman law will be presumed.
The books are H.J. Wolff, Roman Law: An Historical
Introduction (Norman, 1951) and Gaius� Institutes. Wolff
is available in a paperback reprint which is quite cheap and worth buying. I
thought that I asked the Coop to stock it, but apparently that went awry, but there are plenty of both new and used copies available online, and used copies should be available at local book sellers. Gaius was, of course, written in Latin, and
of the many translations, I suggest that we use the one by Francis de Zulueta.
I have posted it on this website. The posting is divided into two parts: Book
4 (�procedure�) and Books
1�3 (persons, property, succession, obligations). They are in PDF
format. If someone would prefer to have them in Word format, let me know; I can give you a link. For those who would like take a crack at Gaius in Latin (which is certainly not required, but if you have any Latin, Gaius’ pretty straight-forward), I’ve posted the entire text here.
The schedule is a bit of a problem. Normally with reading groups, I have an organizational meeting
at the beginning of the semester. At that meeting we discuss what we might do and what times would be convenient, and I go back and make up a schedule. Unfortunately, this year the first Monday in the semester is also Rosh Hashannah. I think that we ought to have an organizational meeting anyway, but if you can’t make it and have some thoughts on how you want to proceed, or topics that you would like to see covered, or when you would like to meet, let me know. One of the nice things about reading groups is that we can be flexible. As it is, I have prepared a proposed schedule and a series of topics. It’s a bit different from the last time I did this reading group in that we start Gaius in the first session and use Wolff as background reading.
�Organizational Meeting.
We�ll spend some time talking about the attached outline,
which one wag has called �Everything that Professor Donahue knows reduced to
one page.�
�Gaius, Institutes, bk. I, §§ 1–7 (generalities about law and sources of law); Wolff, 1�48, Wolff,
91�126.
�Gaius, Institutes, bk. IV (procedure); Wolff, 49�90, Wolff,
127�225.
Mon., Oct. 05
�Gaius, Institutes, bk. I §§ 8–199 (personal status).
(October 12 is a
holiday.)�Gaius, Institutes, bk. II §§ 1–96 (the law of ‘single things’ (roughly property)).
�Gaius, Institutes, bk. II §§ 97–289 (testaments and legacies); bk. III §§ 1–87 (intestacy).
Mon., Nov. 02
�Gaius, Institutes, bk. III §§ 88–225 (obligations from contract and delict).