Free tool · History of Law
Gaius’s Persons, Things and Actions: A Roman Law Classifier
The Roman jurist Gaius, in his Institutes of the second century, arranged private law under three heads: persons (the law of status and the family: free persons and slaves, the head of the household and those in his power, guardianship), things (property, obligations and inheritance, which Gaius treats as kinds of things) and actions (the procedure by which rights are enforced, from the old legis actiones to the formulary system). Justinian’s Institutes followed the scheme, and it shaped the structure of many later civil codes. Pick a concept to see where Gaius would place it, why, and what it became in modern law.
Tool · Roman Law Classifier
Gaius’s division: Persons (personae)
Why: Gaius begins the law of persons with the great division between free persons (liberi) and slaves (servi).
Today: Abolished everywhere in law; its legacy is the idea that legal personality is a status that the law confers.
Gaius, the Roman jurist of the second century, arranged private law under three heads: persons, things and actions. Pick a concept and see where Gaius would place it, why, and what it became. The scheme is a teaching framework that influenced the civil-law codes; it was not the only Roman way of arranging the law. Runs in your browser; nothing is stored or sent.
How to use it
- Choose a Roman law concept from the list.
- Read the division in which Gaius places it.
- Read why, and what it corresponds to in modern law.
- Try several concepts in each division.
Common questions
Why are obligations treated as things?
Gaius treats rights to performance as a kind of incorporeal property, so the law of obligations falls under things in his scheme.
Is the scheme still used?
Its influence is visible in the arrangement of many civil codes, though most now put obligations in their own part, and the Roman categories are a teaching framework.
What was the difference between an action in rem and in personam?
An action in rem asserted a right in a thing against anyone; an action in personam asserted a personal obligation against the debtor.
Learn the law behind the tool
This tool is part of our History of Law course, with lectures, concept maps, flashcards, interactive exercises and a capstone case. History of Law: Roman Law Foundations.
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General information, simplified, mainly on American law, not legal advice. States and countries differ, and real cases turn on facts that a tool cannot capture.