Accounting Techiniques and Accounting Practices in Roman Law, 30 May 2014

The Edinburgh Centre for Legal History and the Edinburgh Roman Law Group will host a workshop on ‘Accounting Techniques and Accounting Practices in Roman Law’, on 30 May 2014, from 9 am to 6 pm in Old College, Edinburgh Law School.

Description
The extent to which economic considerations played a role in the development of Roman law has become an important question within the broader theme of ‘law and society’ research in relation to the Roman world. While exciting work has been done on the extent to which modern economic theories may be used to explain Roman law (eg. Kehoe) and on the extent to which trade was facilitated by Roman money-lending practices (eg. Andreau, Gröschler), the notion of a ‘Roman commercial law’ (eg. Melillo, Lo Cascio, Erdkamp, Cerami, Di Porto et al.) that was supported by certain accounting techniques and practices remains unstudied. The aim of this workshop is to explore these techniques and practices with a view to establishing whether these may enhance modern understanding of ‘Roman commercial law’. This will be done by focusing both on ‘dogmatic’ legal texts contained in Roman legal sources as well as on examples of legal practice preserved in negotia. The focus will be on the ‘long classical period’ – 1st century BCE – end of third century CE.

Participants will include Professor Dr Eva Jakab, Professor Dr Thomas Rufner, Professor Egbert Koops, Dr Serafina Cuomo, Dr Gerard Minaud, and Dr Paul J. du Plessis.

Attendance is free, but spaces are limited. Please email Paul J. du Plessis to secure a place.