Mala consuetudo

Le concept de coutume est une création des juristes occidentaux permettant de convertir les usages autochtones dans les termes de l’ordre juridique dominant. Si la contrainte de l’État est décisive dans la formulation de la coutume, faut-il penser qu’en Europe aussi elle fut une création étatique, les peuples ne participant guère à son épanouissement ? La mala consuetudo médiévale témoigne d’un rapport de force si bien qu’il faut restituer la pratique des usages, l’action du peuple dans la redéfinition des coutumes. L’article considère le contenu de l’expression médiévale comme une catégorie de pensée et la transpose dans l’Antiquité romaine afin de revenir sur le processus de création des consuetudines. Si la consuetudo romaine est bien une création du pouvoir, les communautés auxquelles elle s’applique parviennent aussi à contenir son périmètre. Sa pérennité tient sans doute en partie au fait qu’elle a été perçue ensuite comme un privilège communautaire.The concept of custom is a creation of Western lawyers allowing for the conversion of indigenous uses into the terms of the dominant legal order. If the State’s constraint is ultimately decisive in the formulation of custom, does that mean in Europe too it was essentially a State creation, with the peoples hardly participating in its existence? The mala consuetudo is a matter of power relations, so that it is necessary to emphasize the impact of practices, of popular action on the shaping of customs. This article considers the content of the medieval expression as a category of thought and transposes it to Roman antiquity in order to reconsider the development of consuetudines. If the Roman consuetudo was indeed a creation of power, the communities to which it applied managed to contain its perimeter. Its durability is probably due in part to the fact that it was perceived as a community privilege.

In the Path of Vydūnas: Moral Values and Social Engineering as the Tool for the Welfare State Creation

The article analyses the relationship between democracy and technocracy invoking Lithuanian philosopher Vydūnas’ view on the role of moral values playing in the state. Investigating projects directed to the welfare state creation the author asks how much these projects are technocratic in the narrow sense – performing with the help of knowledge of nature sciences, engineering, economics and other, and what role in these projects moral values play. The author distinguishes two types of projects – technocracy in the narrow and in the wide sense. The latter is defined as social engineering based on the interdisciplinary discussion of experts on the questions linked with moral values. The main theses defended are the following: democracy ant technocracy as the methods of governance should not be contrasted; technocracy could not replace democracy which is the system defending freedom of the individual person; moral ideals (freedom, equality, justice, seeking of common good) are the basic guide in the sphere of values for the social engineering directed to the creation of welfare state.

Byzantine law as a nursery garden for legal transplants with specific review of Dusan's Code

The term Byzantium or Byzantine Empire is used for a state creation that existed from the 4th to the 15th century, more precisely until 1453 and the fall of Constantinople due to the Ottoman conquests. Regardless of what historical discussions and opinions otherwise differ regarding the origin of Byzantium, in this scholarly work May 11th, 330 AD, was taken as the beginning of the Byzantine Empire, the date when New Rome came into existence (Greek NέaῬώme, Lat. Nova Roma) at the site of the Byzantine Greek colony. The paper will analyze the influence of Byzantine law on the further development of the law in the world, as well as the temporal continuity and development of Byzantine law that relies on Roman law. In addition, through a comparison of the Byzantine Code Members and later Dusan's Code, the theory of legal transplants developed by Alan Watson will be analyzed.