>>> Dennis Claxton
, Joanna wrote:
>Well actually medieval law was diff from Roman law.
Well, actually, after the 12th century trying to separate the development of medieval law from Roman law, think of Justinian's code as taught at the University of Bolgna, is like trying to separate a drop of ink from a glass of milk.
^^^^^ CB: Law is fundamenally an expression of private property
rules ,and it is super-structural. It changes with the mode of production. Bourgeois law is different
from feudal law in that bourgeois property is different from feudal property.
Anglo-American law retains some feudal form and terms , even Latin terms, but the content is bourgeois.
In feudalism, the manor was not defeasible. The lord and church couldn't sell the manor for money. The basic means of production were indefeasible on the market. In capitalism, anything goes ( to market). The main freedom is free trade. This is expressed in fundamental the property law of the two modes production.
The contract law,_ caveat emptor _, etc. left over in words from the Romans reflects the fact that there was commodity exchange, a market in the Roman empire. But again, don't think the latifundia could be sold on that market. Slaves were sold in the Roman market. But the market did not dominate the economy as in capitalism. Not in the feudal markets. All this is reflected in the funamental laws of these different modes of production.