Legal Language
The Latin word for law is lex (the plural is leges). That word led to many English words related to laws. Legislators are the elected officials who make laws, and the word legal also comes from leges. The words judge and judicial also have Latin roots.
Many legal terms are Latin, since European scholars used Latin for many years. In fact, law schools in some European nations still require their students to study Latin. English settlers brought this language to North America, and it is still used in courts today. Some of the more common phrases include habeas corpus and amicus curiae. Habeas corpus means "you have the body" and refers to a legal procedure that forces the state to prove it has enough evidence to hold someone it has arrested. Amicus curiae, or "friend of the court," is a person or group that has an interest in a particular court case and presents pertinent information to the court.
One of Rome’s most important political and social developments was its highly structured legal system.
As in the U. S. legal system today,
Rome had two major classes of laws: civil and public (today called criminal law). Civil laws dealt with such things as business and property, while public law focused on crimes, such as murder, theft, and assault. Laws regarding religion were also considered public. The Roman court system had religious roots. In the early days of the Republic, religious advisors called pontiffs interpreted the laws, both civil and public. The pontiffs were not lawyers or judges, but their decisions affected how the laws were applied.
Cicero (106-43 B. C.E.), a Roman politician and scholar, noted the importance of law to the Romans. As quoted by Jo-Ann Shelton in As the Romans Did, Cicero wrote that “equality under the law [was] a right which free people cherish.” Throughout the history of the Republic, the Centuriate Assembly made most decisions of central, political importance, including passing laws. In moments of crisis, some politicians made use of the legislative power of the plebs and their plebiscites. Under the emperors, the role of the people in both elections and lawmaking declined considerably, while the power of the Senate was, for a time, enhanced.
Roman citizens could not go to a government office or the police and have someone arrested. People who believed they had been wronged had to begin legal actions on their own. The winner of a court case also had to act on his own to enforce whatever punishment was handed out, except in cases that involved the execution of a convicted person. At trials, magistrates served as judges and some of their verdicts could be appealed to the assemblies. Several well-educated Romans tried to help
World History
