Contracts between Ancient Practices and Modern Dogmas

The Law Unit of the Athens Institute is organizing a Microsymposium on “Contracts between Ancient Practices and Modern Dogmas” as part of the 22^nd Annual International Conference on Law, 14-17 July 2025, Athens Greece sponsored by the Athens Journal of Law.

The archaeological discoveries of the last few decades have made it possible to completely revise ancient contract law; in fact, the results of research have revealed a very complex reality that is very close to our own today. Thus, some theoretical solutions created in the past for the correct interpretation and application of contracts may also be functional to our needs. Among these discoveries, I would like to bring to your attention the so-called Babatha Archive, consisting of a series of papyri, known as Yadin, during the ‘principato’ of Trajan and Hadrian. Of interest are contractual acts between individuals belonging to the Jewish community but residing in the Arabian Province. It also seems to me very interesting to understand how several rights, Hellenistic, Jewish and Roman, could coexist and how some peculiar negotiations could be protected by the relevant legal system. Yesterday as today, in the global world, several legal systems meet, thus the need to make connections between the various legal systems. At the same time, constant and rapid technological evolution makes it necessary to qualify and protect new situations that often take place only in the virtual world. How did the ancients solve the problems that the new, the atypical, one might say, raised? One solution was offered by the self-defence typical of the Greek and later Judeo-Hellenistic worlds: individual contracts were very detailed, had constitutive and enforceable value, and were endowed with self-defence such as a pledge or mortgage; this avoided the adjudicating courts. Certainly, there remained the substantial problem, which still arises today, of identifying a cause, i.e. a socio-economic function worthy of protection; well, the solution of the Romans is causal abstraction. The Roman rulers, faced with such novelties, poured the content of lawful transactions into schemes with an abstract cause stipulatio, in the sense that the cause existed and was lawful but not immediately qualifiable under a known type, granting generic legal actions. In the global world, where common law and civil law intersect, could a similar solution be envisaged, i.e. the idea of a predefined formal scheme but going beyond the problem of typicality?

You may participate as a presenter of one paper and/or an attendee.

Please submit an abstract (by email only) to: atiner@atiner.gr, using the abstract submission form by 10 December 2024 to: Dr. Lucia Di Cintio, Associate Professor, University of Salerno, Italy. Abstracts should include the following details: Title of Paper, Full Name (s), Affiliation, Current Position, an email address, and at least 3 keywords that best describe the subject of your submission. Decisions are reached within 4 weeks.

Fee structure information is available on www.atiner.gr/fees.

Special arrangements will be made with a local hotel for a limited number of rooms at a special conference rate. In addition, a number of special events will be organized which give a great opportunity to further discuss the issues presented at the conference. From Athens Institute’s long experience these events bring together scholars from different countries and disciplines which may result to research collaborations and joint publications. These events include a pragmatic symposium (as organized in Ancient Athens but fine-tuned to synchronous ethics), a special one-day educational island tour, a Mycenae and island of Poros visit, an Athens educational walking tour, a day trip to Delphi, and an ancient Corinth and Cape Sounion visit. Details of the social program are available here.