The legal protection of environment in ancient Rome
Keywords:
environment protection, Roman law, agriculture, silviculture, air pollution, water pollution, waste, road repairs, maintenance, demolition, protection of monuments
Abstract
The paper wants to give an overview of the moral and legal rules which protected the natural and built environment in ancient Rome. These rules prove that environment protection is not a modern invention. A bonus et diligens pater familias was morally obliged to cultivate his own agricultural land carefully. Both air and water pollution was legally sanctioned. A house-owner had to keep his own building in good condition. Each person was to keep the street outside his own house in repair and clean. Demolition of both private and public buildings was strictly restricted. It is true that in ancient Rome environment protection was not full scope (e.g., animal protection was absent from Roman law), but many elements of environment were legally protected.
References
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2. Alburquerque J M (2018) Provisions of Rules of the Roman Administration in Defense of Natural Resources, Res Publicae and the Environment, Ius Romanum 4(1), pp. 62–81.
3. Alchermes J (1994) Spolia in Roman Cities of the Late Empire. Legislative Rationales and Architectural Reuse, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 48, pp. 167–178, doi: 10.2307/1291726.
4. Astin A E (1988) Regimen Morum, The Journal of Roman Studies 78, pp. 14–34, doi: 10.2307/301448.
5. Baltrusch E (1989) Regimen morum. Die Reglementierung des Privatlebens der Senatoren und Ritter in der römischen Republik und frühen Kaiserzeit, Verlag C. H. Beck, München.
6. Barker S J & Marano Y A (2017) Demolition laws in archaeological context. Legislation and architectural re-use in the Roman building industry, in: Pensabene P, Milella M, Caprioli F (eds.) Decor. Decorazione e architettura nel mondo romano, Roma, pp. 833–850.
7. Berger A (1953) Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law, The American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, doi: 10.2307/1005773.
8. Cappelletti L (2017) Norme per la tutela degli edifici negli statuti locali (secoli I a.C. – I d.C.), Bullettino dell’istituto di diritto romano 111, pp. 53–74.
9. Clausing R (1925) The Roman Colonate. The Theories of its Origin, Columbia University, New York.
10. Du Plessis P (2005) Subletting and the Roman law of letting and hiring Interpreting C.4.65.6, Revue internationale des droits de l’antiquité 52, pp. 131–144.
11. El Beheiri N (2012) Das »regimen morum« der Zensoren. Die Konstruktion des römischen Gemeinwesens, Duncker & Humblot, https://doi.org/10.3790/978-3-428-53789-1.
12. Fiorentini M (2018) Cloache e sanità urbana nello specchio del diritto, Index 46, pp. 320– 343.
13. Flohr M (2013) The World of the Fullo. Work, Economy, and Society in Roman Italy, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
14. Hardy E G (1911) Six Roman Laws, The Clarendon Press, Oxford.
15. Hausmaninger H & Gamauf R (2012) A Casebook on Roman Property Law, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
16. Havlíček F & Morcinek M (2016) Waste and Pollution in the Ancient Roman Empire, Journal of Landscape Ecology 9(3), pp. 33–49, doi: 10.1515/jlecol-2016-0013.
17. Johnston W R (1940) Emphyteusis. A Roman ’Perpetual’ Tenure, The University of Toronto Law Journal 3(2), pp. 323–347, doi: 10.2307/824317.
18. Kamińska R (2012) ’Totam urbem tuendam esse commissam’ (Cic., In Verr. 2,5,36). The aediles as guardians of order in Republican Rome, Zeszyty Prawnicze 12(3), pp. 177–198, doi: 10.21697/zp.2012.12.3.08
19. Lenel O (1927) Das Edictum perpetuum, 3. Aufl., Verlag B. Tauchnitz, Leipzig.
20. Liebeschuetz W (2015) Rubbish disposal in Greek and Roman cities, in: East and West in Late Antiquity: Invasion, Settlement, Ethnogenesis and Conflicts of Religion, Brill, Leiden, pp. 3–18, https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004289529_002.
21. Pólay E (1986) Iniuria Types in Roman Law, Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest.
22. Robinson O (1975) The Roman Law on Burials and Burial Grounds, The Irish Jurist 10(1), pp. 175–186.
23. Robinson O F (1992) Ancient Rome. City Planning and Administration, Routledge, London–New York.
24. Salcedo M C J (2018) Initiatives of the Roman Administration and Urban Environment, Ius Romanum 4(1), pp. 162–183.
25. Salomies O (2015) The Roman Republic, in: Bruun C & Edmondson J (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Roman Epigraphy, Oxford University Press, Oxford,
pp. 153–177, doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195336467.013.009.
26. Sáry P (2019) Water law rules in ancient Rome, Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Law 14(26), pp. 219–236, https://doi.org/10.21029/JAEL.2019.26.219
27. Van Den Bergh R (1999) Roman origins of environmental law?, Journal of South African Law 24(3), pp. 495–507.
28. Wacke A (2002) Protection of the Environment in Roman Law?, Roman Legal Tradition 1, pp. 1–24.
