Ancient Law Chapter 2

Romans and the Praetorian Edict by which it was worked into their system， will be considered in the next chapter. Of the Statute Law it is only necessary to say that it was scanty during the republic， but became very voluminous under the empire. In the youth and infancy of a nation it is a rare thing for the legislature to be called into action for the general reform of private law. The cry of the people is not for change in the laws， which are usually valued above their real worth， but solely for their pure， complete， and easy administration； and recourse to the legislative body is generally directed to the removal of some great abuse， or the decision of some incurable quarrel between classes and dynasties. There seems in the minds of the Romans to have been some association between the enactment of a large body of statutes and the settlement of society after a great civil commotion. Sylla signalised his reconstitution of the republic by the Leges Corneliae； Julius Caesar contemplated vast additions to the Statute Law. Augustus caused to be passed the all-important group of Leges Juliae； and among later emperors the most active promulgators of constitutions are princes who， like Constantine， have the concerns of the world to readjust. The true period of Roman Statute Law does not begin till the establishment of the empire. The enactments of the emperors， clothed at first in the pretence of popular sanction， but afterwards emanating undisguisedly from the imperial prerogative， extend in increasing massiveness from the consolidation of Augustus's power to the publication of the Code of Justinian. It will be seen that even in the reign of the second emperor a considerable approximation is made to that condition of the law and that mode of administering it with which we are all familiar. A statute law and a limited board of expositors have risen into being； a permanent court of appeal and a collection of approved commentaries will very shortly be added； and thus we are brought close on the ideas of our own day

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