Formalism in Roman Contract Law

The certain mode of production conditions certain legal expressions, determines the character and the forms of expression of the law, and depending on this, certain legal institutes and legal principles arise and change. The principle of formalism in a certain period of development of contractual relations is nothing but an expression of certain socioeconomic and other conditions present in that period. The subject of this paper is the principle of formalism as a feature of Roman contract law, the emergent forms of formalism in Roman law, the causes and functions of formalism in certain stage of development of Roman law. The influence of religion on the law and the low level of development of socioeconomic relations were the main reasons for the recognition of formalism in the first legal systems.The principle of formalism implies that the form of the contract as a means of expressing the consent of the will of the parties is a legally established imperative. The specific way of expressing the will to conclude a contract is an essential element of the contract. Infringement of the form is sanctioned by the nullity of the agreement.Formalism in Roman contract law is present and dominant in the period of the early Roman state and law, the late Roman Republic and pre-classical Roman law. The principle of formalism in these developmental stages of the Roman state and law does not mean that it excludes completely the opposite principle of consensualism which implies that contracts are created by a mere consent of the will of the contracting parties, which can be expressed in words or in writing, or with other behavior from which its existence can certainly be concluded. In Roman law, the consensual form has never succeeded in becoming a generally accepted form and Roman law has never formulated the general principle of consensuality.