PREFACE. THIS book, containing the text of the two chief Titles in Justinian's Digest treating of the Contract of Sale, along with a translation and commentary, was originally published in 1892. Its main object was to encourage direct study of the most valuable of the original sources; a secondary aim-more novel, and perhaps appealing to a larger circle-was to provide some materials for a comparison of the common law of sale. The call for a second edition of a book of this kind is gratifying as a sign that it has been found of some use in both directions. Experience has confirmed the view that it would be a decided advantage for all who take up Roman law as part of their professional training, to devote a little time to making first-hand acquaintance with its great storehouse of legal principles; it would add to the interest and also to the educational value of the subject. For the Digest is a very human document, giving a vivid picture of the daily life and practical work of the great lawyers, and explaining, as nothing else can, how and why they attained such pre-eminence in their art. Sometimes their contribution to the law of contract is disparaged in comparison with their performances in other fields. Lord Brougham put the point with his usual vigour in giving judgment in a Scotch appeal, where a civil law precedent on a question of partnership had been adverted to: If there is one department in which the authority of the civil law shall not be taken to rule points in our day, it is that of mercantile jurisprudence, where the defective nature of ancient commercial dealings and commercial institutions connected with them, and |