Original scientific paper

Concept of Patrimony in Roman Law

Henrik-Riko Held orcid.org/0000-0002-6217-2655 ; Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract

Patrimony is one of the basic concepts of the contemporary European civil law systems. Contrary to the modern systems, in Roman law there is no single term to designate patrimony with its specific contents, but rather there is a number of different expressions for patrimony, most important of which are familia, pecunia, patrimonium and bona. Familia designates the original Roman agnate family, but also denotes objects necessary for its upkeep, such as land, foodstuffs, household objects, etc. Pecunia is derived from the word pecus, which means cattle, but it also came to designate money, and even the contents of a patrimony in general. Patrimonium refers to all the objects that belonged to the pater familias. Bona is a term for patrimony from praetorian law, and it is the most advanced concept in the context of this analysis. Generally, all of these concepts were mostly relevant in the context of inheritance and enforcement of debts. Terminologically and conceptually all of them were subject of the reception of Roman law. Consequently, contemporary concepts share certain common features with the Roman concepts. It can be generally stated that the Roman legal tradition has a significant presence in the contemporary European concepts of patrimony. This conclusion is confirmed by the accentuated usage of the concept of patrimony in the context of inheritance and enforcement of debts in contemporary legal systems, which are also the main areas of its application in Roman law.

Keywords

patrimony; familia; pecunia; patrimonium; bona; Roman law

Hrčak ID:

149401

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/149401

Publication date:

31.8.2015.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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