The Process of Transforming Strict Liability into Liability for Fault in Roman Law, and the Effect This Transformation Has Had on Modern Law


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Savas A.

ISTANBUL HUKUK MECMUASI, cilt.80, sa.2, ss.537-582, 2022 (ESCI) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 80 Sayı: 2
  • Basım Tarihi: 2022
  • Doi Numarası: 10.26650/mecmua.2022.80.2.0006
  • Dergi Adı: ISTANBUL HUKUK MECMUASI
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), TR DİZİN (ULAKBİM)
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.537-582
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Objective Liability, Subjective Liability, Fault, intent, Negligence, Gross Negligence, Slight Negligence, Custodia Liability, Diligentia Liability, Utilitas Principle
  • İstanbul Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Roman Law had two basic principles of liability: the principles of objective and subjective liability. In the field of tort law, the principle of objective liability had started turning into subjective liability. The Lex Aquilia was a landmark in this regard. During the classical law period, the main principle of liability in the field of contract law was objective liability, and custodia liability was the most common form of strict liability. According to this understanding, the person who gave rise to the situation that caused the responsibility bears the consequences regardless of the reason. On the other hand, liability based on intent (dolus) began being accepted in the bonae fidei contracts in this period. In the post-classical period, fault liability was adopted, with negligence being taken into account when determining liability. The transition from objective liability to subjective liability necessitated the situation that had caused the liability to be investigated and to seek the fault of the debtor in the occurrence of an unlawful outcome. The basis of holding the debtor responsible according to his fault has brought with it the problem of how to determine fault (culpa). Culpa is divided into intent (dolus) and negligence (also culpa), and negligence is scaled to slight negligence (culpa levis) and gross negligence (culpa lata). Although the trend was found from strict liability to fault liability in the historical course of Roman law, these days the fault of the related person is rated , taken into account when determining responsibility to be able to maintain the equity (aequitas) , the areas where strict liability is accepted are also increasing.