LAW AND JUSTICE 59!
More than 500 years after its publication the Corpus Juris of
Justinian came into use as a legal textbook in the University of
Bologna, Italy. As time passed other European universities took up the
study of Roman law, with the result that its influence was powerfully
felt all over Europe.
Among the present-day countries whose legal system is largely based
on Roman law are: Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Holland,
Scotland, Greece, the Dutch East Indies, Ceylon (once under Dutch
control), Quebec (formerly French), the American State of Louisiana,
and the Union of South Africa. Roman law has also influenced the
German and the English legal systems.
PECULIARITIES OF ROMAN LAW
The outstanding feature of the civil law of the Romans was its
organization of the family, in which the father was all-powerful. In
early times the father was given power of life and death over- the
members of the family. He could also sell members of his family,
and his control of their property was at one time absolute.
In the early days of Rome an unmarried woman was under the
absolute control of her father during his lifetime, and of her nearest
male relative after the father's death. On marriage she carne under
the absolute control of her husband.
As the Romans became more civilized the laws and regulations
governing women were gradually relaxed, or allowed to fall into
abeyance, with the result that by the beginning of the Christian era
Roman women enjoyed a large measure of independence, both in respect
to their persons and to their property.
USES OF TORTURE
Torture has played an important part in judicial processes from the
earliest times. It was practised by the ancient inhabitants of
Mesopotamia, by the Egyptians, by the Greeks and by the Romans. It
had two uses: as a punishment and as a means of extracting confessions.
Torture was extensively practised in ancient Greece, mainly as a
means of obtaining evidence from slaves and persons who did not enjoy
Greek citizenship. Among the methods used were those of the rack
and the wheel. The Greeks regarded torture as necessary and natural,
and such great men as Aristotle and Demosthenes upheld it.
WHEN CRUCIFIXION WAS COMMON
The Romans practised torture even more than the Greeks, au<!» to
their usual systematic manner, drew up careful regulations concerning
its application. Among the methods they used were those of the rack, ,
barbed hooks* leaden balls, the hot plate, mutilation, exposure &* wild
beasts and crucifixion, which was quite common. As w Greece* &*&«£
was much less frequently used upon free cidzem thai* upon siavcs and
freemen (slaves who had been granted &ejr