A Unique Comparative Legal Study from Late Antiquity (Collatio legum Mosaicarum et Romanarum)

Abstract

The article presents some of the main problems related to the study of a unique comparative legal work from Late Antiquity – Comparison of the law of Moses and Roman law (Collatio legum Mosaicarum et Romanarum). The manuscripts in which it is contained, its structure and content are examined. The author's generalizations of existing theories about his origin, authorship and purposes of compilation have a particular importance. The author maintains that if the work was originally composed in the late 3rd and early 4th centuries and had a rather pragmatic focus on the application of official Roman law among the Jewish communities, which had significant privileges and jurisdiction, then more later, interpolations were introduced for apologetic purposes, which does not exclude its application in epicopalis audientia. The general conclusion point to the creation a Collatio by one or more erudite and good lawyers and religious scholars who have made a brilliant comparison of the law of Moses and Roman law to achieve not only the specific goals of its time, but also to present a universal importance of law and religion in the protection of man and his values.