Secularization of the Legal Norm in Relation to Roman Legal History

Abstract

One of the fundamental issues of the philosophy of law is the interrelation among the legal, religious, and moral norms. The legal norm became independent in the ancient Rome. Law was released from the pontifices’ power and emerged as a separate, secularized system of norms.
Roman private law prevailed after the rise of Christianity and the fall of the Roman Empire. Public law of the ancient Rome was closely related to religion, since religion was also a state ideology. Religious views were of paramount importance in ancient Rome since religion was also the theoretical basis of the stability of the state. Due to the horizontal nature of private law institutions, they were less bound to the state. That is why secularized law, which had become independent from the religion, could emerge from Roman private law.
By now, Roman private law has gained such significance that it goes beyond legal history. For centuries, Roman private law has been considered as a model through which one can learn the nature and functioning of individual legal institutions, prior to studying the legislation in force.
In addition to its dogmatic clarity and "timelessness" it has a unifying role in the present, and certainly in the future, as a result of its religious and ideological neutrality. In particular, the secular nature of Roman private law iseven more beneficial when we look at it as the legal basis for getting in contactwith societies that have entirely different world view and ideologiesas the European Christian culture. Roman private law can therefore play a fundamental role in a global perspective.
In my short essay, I explore how becoming independent from religion as a state ideology enabled Roman private law to gain such significance.