Bruce W. Frier, professor of Classical Studies at the University of Michigan Law School, discussed modern law in the later Roman Republic and the resistance to changes in the traditional system of law before a crowd of approximately 60 people in 2 Rockefeller last night.
Frier, part of the Dartmouth Lawyers Association Speakers Series, also drew parallels between the Roman Republic's law and the modern Western law system.
Under traditional Roman law, one could sue by going before a magistrate, Frier said. After the judge listened to arguments and evidence from both parties, he offered a ruling that could not be appealed.
According to Frier, judges initially dominated the law system, but the character of law and legal institutions changed forever with a "juris revolution" in 200 B.C., which would eventually influence Western legal systems, Frier said.
Cicero, a Roman orator from the late Republican period, was "caustic critic of the new system of jurists" and an "ideal" witness to this system since he was a relative outsider to traditional Roman aristocracies, Frier said.
Although Cicero lost the battle to preserve traditional Roman law system, Frier argued "there is something to learn from resistance to Roman law."
Frier discussed the traditionally arbitrational trial format with its lack of coherence. He claimed parties had problems finding statutes and people trained in law, and also found the community's involvement in determining the final verdict as troublesome.
During a question and answer session following the lecture, Frier drew a connection between Roman law and society to that of today. He argued that a feeling of "manifest destiny," derived from the "juris revolution," categorizes the Western legal profession.
However, the structure of Roman law involving highly specialized, minute points of the law is beginning to break down. In addition, he said, the anarchic input that comes from trial courts still present today is also breaking down.
He attributed the breakdown to enormous legislation, specialization, a drift in the legal profession, a loss of identity and the huge size of law firms. He said that even when the judge instructs the jury, "it is over their heads" and claimed that modern juries are as innocuous as juries were then.
Frier received his Ph.D. in Classics at Princeton University. His honors include a Guggenheim, residences at Princeton and fellowships.
The lecture was sponsored by the DLA in cooperation with the Dartmouth Legal Studies Faculty, the Daniel Webster Legal Society and The Nelson A. Rockefeller Center.
A reception in the Classics department followed the lecture, "Reining in the Law: Cicero and the Roman Jurists."
