Roman Law and the Legal World of the Romans

Conclusion

relying on the word-by-word interpretation. An even closer parallel might be provided by a phenomenon I have noticed in my own experience as a member of the board of directors of a condominium residence. The board from time to time receives letters of complaint about its actions or policies. The writers are aware that they are entering into a relatively formal realm, and one with potential legal consequences. Hence they tend to include as much “legal” language as they can – phrases like “breaking and entering,” “retain counsel,” “cease and desist” – even if those phrases are not strictly applicable. In fact, in the jurisdiction where I live, the phrase “breaking and entering” is not technically part of the law at all any more. More generally, we are familiar with a whole range of folk legal knowledge in our own society – bits of real, mistaken, and simply imaginary legal information passed on by a vari ety of sources. News coverage and courtroom dramas are often correct, if oversimplified or incomplete. Other sources, like political speeches and even comedians’ jokes, are less reliable, but still help to shape folk law. For instance, most viewers of American police dramas know at least roughly the wording of the Miranda warning to criminal suspects (“You have the right to remain silent…”) and the reasons for its use. Further from real law is the commonly held belief that individual students are prohibited from engaging in prayer in American public schools. (Only school-sponsored religious activity raises consti tutional issues.) Less seriously, comedians often joke about the supposedly real (if rarely applied) penalties for removing mat tress tags. Of course, as even the tags themselves make clear,

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