Professor Emiliano Hartmann was not a man who believed in ghosts. As a historian of Roman law at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, he dealt in certainties: the Corpus Juris Civilis , the Institutiones of Gaius, the unyielding logic of the Digest . He spent his days in the amber glow of the law library, dust motes dancing in the shafts of light that fell upon his prized possession—a first-edition copy of Margadant’s La segunda vida del derecho romano .
Figures like Bartolus de Saxoferrato (whom Margadant frequently cites in related historical works) shifted from literal interpretation to practical application, adapting Roman rules to the local needs of medieval cities. Professor Emiliano Hartmann was not a man who
In his book, Margadant acts as a narrator guiding us through this odyssey. He explains that the "Second Life" is the journey of Roman Law from being a specific national law of a fallen empire to becoming the "common law" ( ius commune ) of the civilized world. As a legendary figure in Mexican legal education,
As a legendary figure in Mexican legal education, Margadant provides invaluable insights into how this European tradition crossed the Atlantic to become the bedrock of Latin American legal systems . Final Verdict the Institutiones of Gaius