Excerpt from Selections From the Public and Private Law of the Romans: With a Commentary to Serve as an Introduction to the Subject The purpose of this book is to introduce the student to some of the more interesting and instructive principles of Roman law by selected passages from the original Latin sources. It is intended to offer to students of Latin a selection of texts gathered from a field well worthy of study by those who would broaden their view of Roman life and institutions, as well as by those who would extend their acquaintance with the Latin language beyond the Latinity of the authors usually read in a college course. It is scarcely necessary to repeat what is acknowledged on all sides - that Rome's legal and political institutions are the imperishable monument to the real genius and civilization of her people, and that they constitute her most important contribution to the modern world. Furthermore, along with the more recent tendency to broaden the...