THE EVOLUTION OF CONTRACTS IN ROMAN LAW
THE EVOLUTION OF CONTRACTS IN ROMAN LAW

Summary/Abstract: One cannot understand an institution today without researching its entire historical thread, how it evolved until it became what it is through the vicissitudes of the past. On this, our law has very deep and distant roots, partly directly in the custom of the land and in the written laws we had, partly through the influence of the laws of the Occident, and especially the French ones, with Roman law. We cannot easily realize how much we live without knowing by tradition based on the past; the scientist's job is to dig up these past influences and bring them to light in order to understand today's institutions". Following the path shown by Professor Mircea Djuvara, in this study I propose to "dig" in order to highlight the boundless influence of Roman law in the field of contracts. Because it is this influence that explains a unique phenomenon in history, namely the fact that this legal system did not die with the people who created it, but survived for millennia, imposing itself on foreign peoples and vigorously shaping their legal spirit. Therefore, if we want to understand the physiognomy of today's contract, we must dig for its origins, and they will be found in Roman law, where the contract was originally a convention that produced legal effects only if he wore the heavy coat of formalities required at the moment of its conclusion. The essential element of the contract was therefore not the agreement of will, but the formal elements required for its preparation.

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