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Rise And Fall Of Roman Empire Essay

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responsibility of developing the law and in turn it gave rise to a class of people known as the jurists who began to study law in a scientific manner. However, decisions were given verbally so no record existed and the binding force of precedent was impossible. • Principate The constitutional structure failed as Rome became the first world power in history. During the first two centuries of the principate the Roman Empire knew a period of peace, prosperity and stability which remains virtually unequalled in history. The executive power was gradually transferred into the hands of the emperor and his bureaucracy as the emperors created their own new bureaucracy which eventually replaced the old republican magistracies. The emperors assumed the …show more content…

The third century AD was characterised by civil wars which turned the emperor into a military dictator. The empire was divided into the Western Empire, with Rome as its capital and the Eastern Empire with Constantinople as the capital. The empire in the West disintegrated into several Germanic states, this event is usually referred to as ‘the fall of the Roman Empire’. Classical Roman law became watered down, simplified, and was infiltrated by Germanic law. As far as legal history is concerned, the most important period in the history of the Eastern empire was the reign of Emperor Justinian from 527-565 AD. Roman law was almost impossible to access or retrieve and over the centuries the different ruling dispensations with their different legal sources had left a chaotic legacy for those responsible for the application of the law. There was no systematic and upto-date statement of the law. The law was to be found in the following resources: ■ Customary law ■ Legislation of the popular assembly also The Law of the Twelve Tables ■ Enactments of the senate ■ Edicts of the republican

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