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.
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PRÁVNĚHISTORICKÉ STUDIE, Vol 56 No 2 (2026), 309–315
ArticleThat’s What Should Be Done! Reflections on the Margins of the Monograph of Peter Candy, Ancient Maritime Loan Contracts
Maciej Jońca
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14712/2464689X.2026.563
published online: 06. 10. 2026
abstract
In 2025, Dr. Peter Candy (University of Cambridge) published a monograph titled “Ancient Maritime Loan Contracts”. In it, he challenged many of the findings that had been firmly established in the study of Roman law since the 19th century. In his examination of Roman maritime law, he first undertook a “democratization” of the ancient sources. This led him to a surprising conclusion. Namely, the Romans (like the Greeks) did not recognize a separate maritime loan contract. They used a single, consistent loan structure that could be adapted for various purposes – including conducting business at sea. This work deserves attention among legal historians because the author not only debunked a (seemingly) unshakable dogma but also demonstrated how ancient sources remain a flexible and forward-looking subject for research. There are no topics about which nothing more can be written, as long as there are people who are not afraid to ask old sources new questions.
keywords: Roman law; maritime loans; research methodology in the history of law
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That’s What Should Be Done! Reflections on the Margins of the Monograph of Peter Candy, Ancient Maritime Loan Contracts is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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