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334 Chapter 14 Looking Ahead to the Roman Law of Obligations Reflections on Opportunities in Research and Pedagogy Thomas A. J. McGinn Implications for Research One common criticism of published collections of papers from conferences is that they lack a certain coherence with respect to each other. Perhaps enough has been written in chapter 1 to dispel that notion in this case, but let me point out a few more relevant details, because I believe that the interconnections between the papers collected in this book are among its particular strengths. Masi Doria, for example, uses a theoretical approach derived from the nineteenth century (mostly that of Henry Sumner Maine, though Savigny is also important) in a novel way, while Fiori shows some of the limits inherent in scholarship from that period. Procchi suggests how the intellectual tradition of that day, especially as represented by Jhering, might function as an extension of the Roman, while Randazzo makes broad use of anthropological methodologies from both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: Jhering asserts himself here too. Cascione moves in a similar way, from a nineteenth-­ century analysis of criminal conduct (chiefly that of Mommsen) to much more recent evaluations based on considerations of social control. Like Fiori with regard to contracts, Metzger explores the implications of a lack of a general concept (in his case, a “law of procedure”) for the development of legal rules. Benke, too, is able to suggest how complexity (in this case, complexity operating to the point of contradiction) can sustain the development of a legal system deeply penetrated by considerations of gender. New institutional Looking Ahead to the Roman Law of Obligations 335 economics, like gender studies, presents the legal historian with a relatively new methodology and is ably deployed by Kehoe to advance our understanding of some traditional problems in the relationship between Roman law and society. This relationship is a theme explored by du Plessis in his examination of the connection between legal theory and practice. A similar concern is evident in Rainer’s contribution, which constructs a parallel universe of contracts in the public realm, parallel, that is, to those examined by a number of our contributors under the heading of private law. It is fair to say that none of the contributors to this book ignores the problem of historical development, though some opt for a closer focus, such as Cursi, who unites an analytical understanding of Aquilian liability (i.e., loss wrongfully inflicted on another’s property) to an understanding of how this developed over time. In a similar fashion, Stolte explores the significance, on both a macrolevel and a microlevel, of what the words Roman and Byzantine really stand for in terms of the content of legal rules, specifically relating to the law of contracts. His focus on the central question of what agreements can and cannot be enforced takes up a theme raised by Fiori and touched on by some of the other contributors. There is a great deal of contemporary interest in the field of Roman law, an interest that reaches far beyond any reasonable boundaries we can set for the discipline itself. It is true that this interest is frustrated at times by perceptions that specialist (i.e. Romanist) writings on the subject are inaccessible to outsiders , in part because they are couched in highly technical terms, assume a great deal of information, and are published in journals and collections that are unfamiliar to most classicists and ancient historians. This collection presents a genuine opportunity for both sides to set aside that perception (which is to some extent justified, truth be told). A group of highly regarded specialists offers here a set of essays designed to open up their subject to a general audience of interested scholars from a diversity of fields. This collection will, I believe, interest not only Roman law specialists on both sides of the Atlantic but also ancient historians and students of anthropology, economic history, and gender studies. Regarding the interest of nonspecialists, we contributors operate on the basis of a double premise. First, it seems likely that few are well acquainted with current discussions and controversies in the field of Roman law. Second, many of them are deeply interested in learning more about the current state of play. We trust that this collection offers them a sophisticated yet accessible point of entry to a discipline that has long seemed out of reach, even to those with an interest in the subject. [18.191.174...

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