Juridical Regulation of Sea Transportation in Ancient Rome

Abstract

The field of sea transportation was very important in ancient Rome. The “civitas” needed to be supplied with products coming from the entire Mediterranean Sea by using sea transportation. Roman legal institutions used habits created by other peoples with experience in navigation. In Roman law, the contract called “locatio-conductio” was used for regulating sea transportation. Some of these contracts were used for commerce and are strongly related to current sea transportation contracts from both Common Law and European Continental Law. In addition to the responsibility emerging from the application of these contracts, the Roman law set a responsibility based on the reception of goods, called “ex-recepto” responsibility. Legal solutions of ancient Mediterranean constituted a solid base for erecting the Roman law. Maritime rules of Roman law explain some legal institutions in force in relation to sea transportation and still in full force through our law