Editing Roman law (section)

=== Pre-classical period ===
In the period between about 201 to 27 BC, more flexible laws developed to match the needs of the time. In addition to the old and formal ''ius civile'', a new juridical class was created: the ''[[ius honorarium]]'': "The law introduced by the magistrates who had the right to promulgate edicts in order to support, supplement or correct the existing law."<ref>{{cite book |last=Berger |first=Adolf |title=Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law |journal=The American Journal of Philology |volume=76 |issue=1 |pages=90–93 |year=1953 |jstor=291711 |doi=10.2307/297597 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oR0LAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA529|isbn=9780871694324 |s2cid=162540731 }}</ref> With this new law the old formalism was abandoned, and more flexible principles of ''[[ius gentium]]'' ("law of the nations") were used.{{Cn|date=January 2025}}

The adaptation of law to new needs was given over to juridical practice, to [[Roman magistrate|magistrates]], and especially to the [[praetor]]s. Though the praetors were not legislators and did not technically create new law when he issued his [[Praetor's Edict|edicts]] (''magistratuum edicta''), the results of his rulings enjoyed legal protection (''actionem dare'') and were in effect often the source of new legal rules. A praetor's successor was not bound by the edicts of his predecessor. However, he did take rules from edicts of his predecessor that had proved to be useful. In this way a constant content was created that proceeded from edict to edict (''edictum traslatitium'').{{Cn|date=January 2025}}

Thus, over the course of time, parallel to the civil law and supplementing and correcting it, a new body of praetoric law emerged. In fact, praetoric law was so defined by the famous Roman jurist [[Papinian]] (142–212 AD): "''Ius praetorium est quod praetores introduxerunt adiuvandi vel supplendi vel corrigendi iuris civilis gratia propter utilitatem publicam''" ("praetoric law is that law introduced by praetors to supplement or correct civil law for public benefit"). Ultimately, civil law and praetoric law were fused in the {{Lang|la|[[Corpus Juris Civilis]]}}.{{Cn|date=January 2025}}