HIST105 CM - Laying Down the Law: Roman and Late Antique Legal Cultures

The history of Roman law offers valuable lessons for understanding the evolution of power dynamics and social mores within a society. This course will examine how the Roman Empire produced law and how laws shaped, enabled and constrained the lives of individuals from diverse ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds. The course explores the varied legal contexts spanning from the rise of Rome to the early medieval states that succeeded after the empire’s fall. Readings will include surviving legal cases, personal letters, moral treatises and law codes. Attention will be given to how the law mediated interactions between the state and individual, access to law in daily life and changes in the development in legal thinking.

Offered: Every other year

Credit: 1

Course Number: HIST105 CM