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Sometime around the year 1469, Giovanni Andrea, the Papal Librarian at the Vatican, noted that the Middle Ages were at an end and the modern world had just begun. From his standpoint at the intellectual centre of Christendom, a major transition was occurring.All across Europe, Law, too, was in a state of transition at this time. We may take as our starting point an early piece of evidence of these changes which comes from the Southern Netherlands. It comes from the small village of St Peters, a village in which legal disputes were decided by local alderman, men who had had no formal legal training but who were very experienced in applying the customary law of the area. An issue had arisen whether a legal right of way had been gained by long use.

Within both the Civil Law and the Common Law we find means of acquiring and losing rights, or freeing ourselves from obligations by the passage of time. The ratio thereof is twofold: (1) in the words of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. »Sometimes it is said that, if a man neglects to enforce his rights, he cannot complain if, after a while, the law follows his example« and (2) A claim should not hang above the head of the debtor as if it were a Damocles`sword, or (on the words of Best CJ »long dormant claims have more cruelty than justice in them.« This ratio is and has been felt strongly in every jurisdiction, but legislation, case law and jurisprudence but the specifications thereof show substantial dissimilarities, notably between the Common Law and the Civil Law, even thus that in recent times several Law Commissions reported about future modifications and other jurisdictions enacted new legislation. This book gives the necessary historical background on a comparative basis

A new assessment of the importance of the lex Aquilia (wrongful damage to property) on Roman law in BritainFew topics have had a more profound impact on the study of Roman law in Britain than the lex Aquilia, a Roman statute enacted c.287/286 BCE to reform the Roman law on wrongful damage to property. This volume investigates this peculiarly British fixation against the backdrop larger themes such as the development of delict/tort in Britain and the rise of comparative law.Taken collectively, the volume establishes whether it is possible to identify a 'British' method of researching and writing about Roman law.Key FeaturesLooks at the unique relationship between the lex Aquilia and British legal scholarship and legal historyExplores the importance of the teaching of the lex Aquilia at various old British universitiesAppraises W.W. Buckland's legacy: his prolific scholarly output and his impact on his students, most notably David Daube, and their significant contributions to the study of Roman law and the lex Aquilia in the UKContributorsJohn W. Cairns, Professor of Civil law, University of Edinburgh Paul J. du Plessis, Professor of Roman law, University of Edinburgh Robin Evans-Jones, Professor of Jurisprudence, University of Aberdeen David Ibbetson, Regius Professor of Civil law, University of Cambridge David Johnston QC, Advocate in the Court of Session, Edinburgh and sometime Regius Professor of Civil law, University of Cambridge Alberto Lorusso, Associate Professor of Roman law, University of Madrid (Alcalà de Henares) Paul Mitchell, Professor of Law, University College London Joe Sampson, David Li Fellow in Law, Selwyn College, Affiliated Lecturer, University of CambridgeHelen Scott, Tutorial Fellow, Lady Margaret Hall, and Professor of Law, University of Oxford Benjamin Spagnolo, Fellow at Trinity College and Lecturer in Law, University of Cambridge Giuseppe Valditara, Professor of Roman Law, University of Turin