Právněhistorické studie / Legal History Studies (Charles University journal; below referred to as PHS or Journal) is a scientific journal listed in the international prestigious database SCOPUS. The journal is published by Charles University in Prague under the guarantee of the Department of Legal History of the Faculty of Law of Charles University. It is published by the Karolinum Press. The journal focuses on the field of legal history and related topics.
Issue 1 of the Journal was published by the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences Publishing in June 1955. The Journal was initially published by the Cabinet of Legal History of the Czechoslovak Academy of Science (CSAV), later by the Institute of State and Law (CSAV) and then by the Institute of Legal History of the Faculty of Law of Charles University.
PHS is issued three times a year in April, August, and December and it presents original scientific works/papers as well as reviews, annotations and news from the scientific field of legal history. It also introduces annotated texts of a legal history nature. PHS accepts manuscripts from domestic as well as foreign authors. Manuscripts submitted by foreign authors are published in original language, namely in English, Slovak, German, French, Italian or Polish.
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PRÁVNĚHISTORICKÉ STUDIE, Vol 55 No 3 (2025), 143–154
ArticleFrom Oral to Written: The Rise of Written Form in Roman Law
Marek Novák
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14712/2464689X.2025.38
published online: 10. 12. 2025
abstract
This paper examines the relationship between oral to written form in Roman law and the changing role of formal requirements in legal acts. Although Roman law is often associated with rigorous formalism, the use of writing remained exceptional for much of antiquity. In the classical period, legal transactions were typically performed orally and reinforced by prescribed gestures, while written records served primarily as evidence without constitutive effect. Limited exceptions existed, such as literal contracts or certain types of testaments, where written documentation increasingly secured the testator’s will and enhanced legal certainty. During the post-classical era, provincial practice and everyday commerce encouraged broader use of written instruments, blurring the distinction between evidentiary and constitutive documents. Under emperor Justinian, the range of acts requiring written form expanded further – from inheritance declarations and manumission. He specially regulated sales agreements, in which a mutual decision to conclude in writing postponed the moment of contractual perfection until the document was duly drafted and executed.
keywords: written form; legal acts; Justinian; contracts; wills; stipulation; legal certainty
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From Oral to Written: The Rise of Written Form in Roman Law is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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ISSN: 0079-4929
E-ISSN: 2464-689X
