Roman Law (Delicts)

The architecture of Roman private law and the four principal delicts of classical jurisprudence.

Week 2: Roman law of theft — definition, elements, scope and remedies

The delict of insult, affront to dignitas, and the praetorian actio iniuriarum aestimatoria

Chapter one of the lex Aquilia: wrongful killing of slaves and four-footed herd animals.

Chapter 3 of the lex Aquilia extended delictual liability to damage short of total destruction.

Causation and fault in the lex Aquilia: corpore suo, damnum dare, and the emergence of culpa as negligence

The actio noxalis, the principle of noxa caput sequitur, the liability of the pater familias for delicts of sons and slaves, and the comparative trajectory toward modern vicarious liability.

Comparative reflections on Roman delicts and modern tort law