248 JOURNAL OF PAPYROLOGY
L A W O F P R O P E R T Y
E r n s t L e v y , West Roman Vulgar Law. The Law of Property. (Ame-rican Philosophical Society, P h i l a d e l p h i a 1951).
T h e vulgarized law of t h e western p a r t of t h e R o m a n E m p i r e has h i t h e r t o m e t w i t h slight, if a n y , a t t e n t i o n . I t h a s been obscured b y t h e splendor of t h e classical j u r i s p r u d e n c e which covers a b o u t t h e f i r s t t w o h u n d r e d and f i f t y y e a r s of our era. B u t h u m a n his-t o r y , is n o his-t limihis-ted his-t o climaxes. D e v e l o p m e n his-t s of a lower level h a v e o f t e n h a d an i n f l u e n c e h a r d l y less p r o f o n d . T h e v u l g a r law is an o u t s t a n d i n g case in p o i n t . One c a n n o t h o p e t o u n d e r s t a n d f u l l y t h e earliest codifications of t h e G e r m a n i c world or p r o p e r l y j u d g e t h e a t t i t u d e t a k e n b y J u s t i n i a n in compiling t h e Corpus Juris, unless one becomes a c q u a i n t e d w i t h t h e m a i n c u r r e n t s which mol-ded t h e p r i v a t e law in t h e preceding period. A n d these c u r r e n t s were largely d e t e r m i n e d b y a simplification a n d p o p u l a r i z a t i o n in p r a c t i c e a n d doctrine of t h e ideas on which t h e artistic s y s t e m of t h e classical period h a d been b u i l t . T h e process of vulgarization displayed its m o s t m a r k e d t r a i t s in t h a t long a n d e v e n t f u l epoch which s t r e t c h e d b e t w e e n Diocletian a n d J u s t i n i a n who, m o r e t h a n t w o h u n d r e d y e a r s later, b e c a m e reviver.
T h e b o o k pursues two chief purposes. One is t o present t h e m o s t distinctive f e a t u r e s of those u n o r t o d o x rules in t h e law of p r o p e r t y . E m p h a s i s is on its f u n d a m e n t a l concepts, t h e relation b e e t w e n pri-v a t e rights a n d public interest, t h e e s t a b l i s h m e n t of those r i g h t s a n d t h e remedies available t o enforce t h e m . T h e second objective is t o explain t h e significance of t h e v u l g a r law for s u b s e q u e n t deve-l o p m e n t s . W h i deve-l e J u s t i n i a n in t h e m a i n steered a different course, early G e r m a n i c legislations were p r o f o u n d l y i n f l u e n c e d b y t h e vul-gar law. This f a c t opens u p a new a p p r o a c h t o t h e m u c h d e b a t e d p r o b l e m w h e t h e r a given rule h a s G e r m a n i c or R o m a n roots. T h e p o t e n t i a l R o m a n c o m p o n e n t , it is s h o w n , c a n n o t be looked for in t h e classical or t h e J u s t i n i a n law which t h e G e r m a n i c peoples a t t h a t t i m e did n o t k n o w , b u t only in t h e v u l g a r law which t h e y did know. N o t e v e r y w h e r e are t h e sources p l e n t i f u l enough t o m a k e an a p p r o a c h t o t h e details of a rule of t h e v u l g a r law possible. B u t t h e principal lines of t h o u g h t reveal themselves with s u f f i c i e n t and in places impressive clarity.
This review gives an idea of t h e v a l u e of t h i s m o n u m e n t a l w o r k ; a n d as it m a k e s t o a large e x t e n t use of t h e p a p y r i (cf. i n d e x p. 295) it will be of high interest also for t h e papyrologists.
