Scholarly record

PROPERTY LAW: CASE STUDIES AND JURISPRUDENTIAL PROBLEMS IN RELATION TO THE WORLD OF JEWELS DURING THE ANCIENT ROMAN ERA

I. Allegranti

Abstract

The study I conducted is an analysis of how the world of jewels and precious stones was perceived in the legal system during the different ages of the Ancient Roman era. My work is therefore a survey through which I explored the Ancient Roman jewelry world under the magnifying glass of property law: from the purchase of a property right to its limitations to its claim in court thus including also a brief history on how this right, including its multiple facets such as possession and the usucapion, has evolved during the Roman era. The methodology used for this paper is based on the reading and the investigation of the cases related to jewels and precious stones reported in the Digest by Emperor Justinian. In fact, by applying this method I was able to trace and analyze, thanks to the many cases which mentioned jewels and precious stones, the history of property law in the age of Ancient Rome, the jurisprudential problems that some of the greatest Roman jurists tried to solve and interpret and how ownership rights changed during the eras of Ancient Rome history as well as how jewelry was perceived by Romans themselves. So the main finding of this study is not a discovery of something but rather the outlining of the glitzy and fascinating world of valuables as seen through the eyes of the property law traced in the Digest, emperorВ’s Justinian opera magna.

Publication details

Back to publication list