Law Moderations are preliminary examinations in Criminal Law, Constitutional Law, and Roman Law, taken at the end of the second term in the first year of the BA. Students must pass them in order to continue in the BA; the degree is awarded on the basis of the FHS Examinations.

This subject is an introduction to legal concepts and legal thought, which for centuries have been directly influenced by Roman Law. The course therefore shows where many of the ideas which we take for granted have come from. The course is based on primary materials, the set texts from Gaius (second century AD) and Justinian (sixth century AD). The texts are studied in translation. No Latin is needed, nor is Latin an advantage. Contact with primary materials is one of the great merits of the study of law. It allows the mind to form its own judgments, freed from second-hand opinions.

The course has five sections: I. Sources of Law and the Scheme of the Institutes; II. Property; III. Obligations (A) Contract, (B) Delict (Tort); IV. Influence of Roman Law.

The degree is awarded on the basis of nine final examinations at the end of the three-year course (or four years in the case of Law with Law Studies in Europe). Phase II of the Final Honour School includes the first and second term of the final year; the Final Examinations are taken in the third term of the final year.

The Roman Law option focuses on set texts from the Institutes and Digest. Its primary aim is to understand those texts and the ideas and methods of the great Roman jurists who wrote them. The secondary aim is, by comparison, to throw light on the law of our own time. It caters for the interests of those who are interested in making use of their classical background or of developing the knowledge of Roman law they have acquired by taking the ‘A Roman Introduction to Private Law’ course in Law Moderations, although it is not essential to have done the Roman Law course for Mods. It allows students to study in some detail the outlook and methods of reasoning of the classical jurists who provide the models on which professional legal argument has ever since been based. In practice this will lead to discuss fundamentals of the law of delicts/torts, aided by the comparison with English cases. The lectures are based, so far as the Roman law is concerned, on the set texts, in English translation. Indeed, one of the advantages of this course from the point of view of students is that the body of relevant texts and other authoritative material is more limited than it is in most, perhaps all, the other options. It is possible to concentrate on detail. In the examination candidates are required to comment on selections from the set translated texts and on questions regarding the literature given for the texts. Knowledge of Latin is not required or necessary, sensitivity for the philological aspects of the originals, when relevant, is. Much literature will quote Latin phrases but it practice this should not cause problems; for fully cited texts either the translation is present in the set texts or it is separately provided. By its nature this course attracts and is suitable for only small numbers. This fact tends to dissolve the distinction between tutorials and lectures. However, it remains true that the backbone of the course is an exposition of the set texts, supported by further lectures on associated topics.

A one-year sample of courses from our BA programmes, aimed only at students visiting from our partner universities.

The Roman Law option focuses on set texts from the Institutes and Digest. Its primary aim is to understand those texts and the ideas and methods of the great Roman jurists who wrote them. The secondary aim is, by comparison, to throw light on the law of our own time. It caters for the interests of those who are interested in making use of their classical background or of developing the knowledge of Roman law they have acquired by taking the ‘A Roman Introduction to Private Law’ course in Law Moderations, although it is not essential to have done the Roman Law course for Mods. It allows students to study in some detail the outlook and methods of reasoning of the classical jurists who provide the models on which professional legal argument has ever since been based. In practice this will lead to discuss fundamentals of the law of delicts/torts, aided by the comparison with English cases. The lectures are based, so far as the Roman law is concerned, on the set texts, in English translation. Indeed, one of the advantages of this course from the point of view of students is that the body of relevant texts and other authoritative material is more limited than it is in most, perhaps all, the other options. It is possible to concentrate on detail. In the examination candidates are required to comment on selections from the set translated texts and on questions regarding the literature given for the texts. Knowledge of Latin is not required or necessary, sensitivity for the philological aspects of the originals, when relevant, is. Much literature will quote Latin phrases but it practice this should not cause problems; for fully cited texts either the translation is present in the set texts or it is separately provided. By its nature this course attracts and is suitable for only small numbers. This fact tends to dissolve the distinction between tutorials and lectures. However, it remains true that the backbone of the course is an exposition of the set texts, supported by further lectures on associated topics.

The Roman Law option focuses on set texts from the Institutes and Digest. Its primary aim is to understand those texts and the ideas and methods of the great Roman jurists who wrote them. The secondary aim is, by comparison, to throw light on the law of our own time. It caters for the interests of those who are interested in making use of their classical background or of developing the knowledge of Roman law they have acquired by taking the ‘A Roman Introduction to Private Law’ course in Law Moderations, although it is not essential to have done the Roman Law course for Mods. It allows students to study in some detail the outlook and methods of reasoning of the classical jurists who provide the models on which professional legal argument has ever since been based. In practice this will lead to discuss fundamentals of the law of delicts/torts, aided by the comparison with English cases. The lectures are based, so far as the Roman law is concerned, on the set texts, in English translation. Indeed, one of the advantages of this course from the point of view of students is that the body of relevant texts and other authoritative material is more limited than it is in most, perhaps all, the other options. It is possible to concentrate on detail. In the examination candidates are required to comment on selections from the set translated texts and on questions regarding the literature given for the texts. Knowledge of Latin is not required or necessary, sensitivity for the philological aspects of the originals, when relevant, is. Much literature will quote Latin phrases but it practice this should not cause problems; for fully cited texts either the translation is present in the set texts or it is separately provided.

The purpose of the course is to study the Roman Law of Contracts in detail, particularly the Law of Sale, and to examine, subsequently, on this basis, doctrinal and philosophical aspects of the Civilian law on contracts as it developed from ca. 1100 AD till the middle of the 19th century, with where possible a comparison with and excursus into English law.

The Roman Law option focuses on set texts from the Institutes and Digest. Its primary aim is to understand those texts and the ideas and methods of the great Roman jurists who wrote them. The secondary aim is, by comparison, to throw light on the law of our own time. It caters for the interests of those who are interested in making use of their classical background or of developing the knowledge of Roman law they have acquired by taking the ‘A Roman Introduction to Private Law’ course in Law Moderations, although it is not essential to have done the Roman Law course for Mods. It allows students to study in some detail the outlook and methods of reasoning of the classical jurists who provide the models on which professional legal argument has ever since been based. In practice this will lead to discuss fundamentals of the law of delicts/torts, aided by the comparison with English cases. The lectures are based, so far as the Roman law is concerned, on the set texts, in English translation. Indeed, one of the advantages of this course from the point of view of students is that the body of relevant texts and other authoritative material is more limited than it is in most, perhaps all, the other options. It is possible to concentrate on detail. In the examination candidates are required to comment on selections from the set translated texts and on questions regarding the literature given for the texts. Knowledge of Latin is not required or necessary, sensitivity for the philological aspects of the originals, when relevant, is. Much literature will quote Latin phrases but it practice this should not cause problems; for fully cited texts either the translation is present in the set texts or it is separately provided.

The purpose of the course is to study the Roman Law of Contracts in detail, particularly the Law of Sale, and to examine, subsequently, on this basis, doctrinal and philosophical aspects of the Civilian law on contracts as it developed from ca. 1100 AD till the middle of the 19th century, with where possible a comparison with and excursus into English law.