 The Roman Familia: A view from the economics of propertyEconomics Working Papers from Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra Abstract: This chapter presents an analytical framework that draws upon the economics of personal and real rights, which helps in understanding the institutions of the Roman familia. The discussion proceeds in four stages. First, it outlines the central tenets of the theory, which regards the formalization of transactions as a critical, secondary, public "contractual" step for creating a tradable legal commodity, specifically robust property (real) rights that are enforceable in rem against everyone but do not increase transaction costs. Second, it applies the theory to the marriage contract, a fundamental component of family law. Third, the chapter examines some of the primary features of Roman personal contracting from this analytical perspective, particularly the standard transactions related to the Roman familia, which is better comprehended as a household than as a mere family. Lastly, it focuses on one of the main features of Roman family law: the dowry, explaining the tendency to enforce it as a right in rem. Keywords: Economics of ancient law; economics of ancient societies; econ.analysis of Roman law; law and economics; family law; dowry; property rights; transaction costs; personal exchange; new institutional ec (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:upf:upfgen:1869 Access Statistics for this paper More papers in Economics Working Papers from Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.