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ROMAN INTERNATIONAL LAW

ôThe Roman Empire came to be a homogeneous mass of privileged persons largely using the same language, aiming at the same type of civilization, equal among themselves, but all alike conscious of their superiority to the surrounding barbarians.ö

What had caused the success of Roman hegemony over the empire? It was her foreign policies that insured her domination of the Empire. It is popular to believe that the history of her policies towards her neighbors is a history of military domination. But it is also a history of a recognition of international law and binding treaties on sovereign states.

The history of Rome may have been a long series of wars and conquests. Notwithstanding this, she evolved and practiced a large body of principles which have furnished the basis of international law for all time; "the Roman genius law in conquest, imperial expansion, in the practical sphere of political organization and juridical development."

To the extent to which international law was binding on the Romans, there must be an understanding of the time periods in Roman history. In the latter periods of the empire, where there was rapid extension of the empire and absorption of foreign countries, equality under the law of nations and reciprocity of treaty rights gave way to dictatorial insistence of stated conditions. "Imperial Rome had no great need of international conventions.ö

But in the earlier periods as being covered in this paper, there was effective recognition of the equality of states. Rome did recognize the existence of sovereign and independent states other than her own, and possessed an international juridical consciousness, and admitted the legal obligations that were binding in her treaties with the other states.

Treaties were the basis of international law and the key to the foreign state depended upon whether or not there existed a treaty of friendship between Rome and the state. In case no such...

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ROMAN INTERNATIONAL LAW. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 19:29, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1712937.html