Gregory Aldrete

And by the late republic, the Romans just get kind of really into legal stuff. I don't know why, but – and the Romans were very methodical, organized people, so maybe this has something to do with it. But their law code just keeps getting more and more complicated. and keeps expanding to different areas. And they start to get jurists who write sort of theoretical things about Roman law.

And by the late republic, the Romans just get kind of really into legal stuff. I don't know why, but – and the Romans were very methodical, organized people, so maybe this has something to do with it. But their law code just keeps getting more and more complicated. and keeps expanding to different areas. And they start to get jurists who write sort of theoretical things about Roman law.

And by the late republic, the Romans just get kind of really into legal stuff. I don't know why, but – and the Romans were very methodical, organized people, so maybe this has something to do with it. But their law code just keeps getting more and more complicated. and keeps expanding to different areas. And they start to get jurists who write sort of theoretical things about Roman law.

And eventually, it becomes this huge body both of cases and comments on those cases and of actual laws. And in the 6th century AD, so the 500s, the Roman Emperor Justinian, who is a emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire by this point, the Byzantine Empire, compiles all this together into something that today we just kind of loosely call Justinian's Code of Roman Law, and that survives.

And eventually, it becomes this huge body both of cases and comments on those cases and of actual laws. And in the 6th century AD, so the 500s, the Roman Emperor Justinian, who is a emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire by this point, the Byzantine Empire, compiles all this together into something that today we just kind of loosely call Justinian's Code of Roman Law, and that survives.

And eventually, it becomes this huge body both of cases and comments on those cases and of actual laws. And in the 6th century AD, so the 500s, the Roman Emperor Justinian, who is a emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire by this point, the Byzantine Empire, compiles all this together into something that today we just kind of loosely call Justinian's Code of Roman Law, and that survives.

And so that becomes the basis for almost all the legal systems around the world, and it's very complicated. And Roman law, I think, is really fun because on the one hand, it's really dry, but it also preserves these wonderful little vignettes of daily life that So you get these great just kind of entertaining law cases. One of my favorite – and this may not even be a real case.

And so that becomes the basis for almost all the legal systems around the world, and it's very complicated. And Roman law, I think, is really fun because on the one hand, it's really dry, but it also preserves these wonderful little vignettes of daily life that So you get these great just kind of entertaining law cases. One of my favorite – and this may not even be a real case.

And so that becomes the basis for almost all the legal systems around the world, and it's very complicated. And Roman law, I think, is really fun because on the one hand, it's really dry, but it also preserves these wonderful little vignettes of daily life that So you get these great just kind of entertaining law cases. One of my favorite – and this may not even be a real case.

This might be a hypothetical that they would use like to train Roman sort of law students. It's like one day a man sends a slave to the barber to get a shave. And the barber shop is adjacent to an athletic field. And two guys are on the athletic field throwing a ball back and forth. And one of them throws the ball badly. The other guy fails to catch it.

This might be a hypothetical that they would use like to train Roman sort of law students. It's like one day a man sends a slave to the barber to get a shave. And the barber shop is adjacent to an athletic field. And two guys are on the athletic field throwing a ball back and forth. And one of them throws the ball badly. The other guy fails to catch it.

This might be a hypothetical that they would use like to train Roman sort of law students. It's like one day a man sends a slave to the barber to get a shave. And the barber shop is adjacent to an athletic field. And two guys are on the athletic field throwing a ball back and forth. And one of them throws the ball badly. The other guy fails to catch it.

The ball flies into the barbershop, hits the hand of the barber, cuts the slave's throat. He dies. Who's liable under Roman law? Is it the athlete one who threw the ball badly? Is it athlete two who failed to catch it? Is the barber who actually cut the slave's throat? Is it the owner of the slave for being stupid enough to send his slave to get a shave in a place adjacent to a playing field?

The ball flies into the barbershop, hits the hand of the barber, cuts the slave's throat. He dies. Who's liable under Roman law? Is it the athlete one who threw the ball badly? Is it athlete two who failed to catch it? Is the barber who actually cut the slave's throat? Is it the owner of the slave for being stupid enough to send his slave to get a shave in a place adjacent to a playing field?

The ball flies into the barbershop, hits the hand of the barber, cuts the slave's throat. He dies. Who's liable under Roman law? Is it the athlete one who threw the ball badly? Is it athlete two who failed to catch it? Is the barber who actually cut the slave's throat? Is it the owner of the slave for being stupid enough to send his slave to get a shave in a place adjacent to a playing field?

Or is it the Roman state rezoning a barbershop next to an athletic field? What do you think?

Or is it the Roman state rezoning a barbershop next to an athletic field? What do you think?

Or is it the Roman state rezoning a barbershop next to an athletic field? What do you think?

It's a case without the answer. So we know – we have various jurists commenting on this one, but we don't have what was actually ruled. But it's just a great little, you know, sort of vignette. Right. And that's how complicated Roman law got, that it was dealing with these weird esoteric questions.

It's a case without the answer. So we know – we have various jurists commenting on this one, but we don't have what was actually ruled. But it's just a great little, you know, sort of vignette. Right. And that's how complicated Roman law got, that it was dealing with these weird esoteric questions.