Roman Law as Illustrated in Pliny's Letters

Extract

The interest of students commencing the study of Roman Law would, I think, be greatly stimulated if the commentaries on the texts of the Institutes were furnished, as amply as the material available renders possible, with illustrations of the actual operation of the law in practice. It not only aids the understanding, but affords a great relief to the mind to be able to turn from the study of the abstract rules in vacuo, so to speak, and to observe their application in the actual circumstances of life at different periods. From the works of Cicero may be gathered a rich store of examples of the working of Roman Law at the end of the Republic, and in the Letters of Pliny we have much material which illustrates the rules and practice of the law in the period immediately preceding the age of the Antonines.