This is not quite a book about Roman law, on which there already exist any
number of excellent treatises. Neither is it quite a book about Roman social and
economic life; that subject, too, is already illuminated by massive works of scholarship.
It is a book about Roman law in its social context, an attempt to strengthen
the bridge between two spheres of discourse about ancient Rome by using the
institutions of the law to enlarge understanding of the society and bringing the
evidence of the social and economic facts to bear on the rule of law.
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