Four Times Ancient Roman Law Was More Developed Than Lebanese Law

I happen to be a law student and one of my mandatory modules is Roman Law. I have not really done any work for that particular paper during the year, but now that exams are approaching; I did not have much choice.

While going through the very detailed law that governed the ancient Roman republic and empire, I could not help myself from cynically laughing. Guess what? They had some laws that were more developed than the laws we have in Lebanon in our present day.

1. Res communes: Things owned by no one and subject to use by all

These included the seashore, rivers and provincial lands. They were considered to be owned by all Roman citizens and no one could deprive another from their enjoyment. Theoretically speaking, Lebanon has a law protecting public property from being privately owned but luckily it’s only a theory. It is as real as the Mount Olympus gods. Where shall we start from? Ramlet et Bayda? Dalieh? Jiyeh? Jbeil? I’ll let you continue the list every time you pay entry fees to enjoy ‘your’ beach.

2. Altius non tollendi: Right to view and to light

Believe it or not, Romans had a right not to have their view obstructed by someone else’s property whether it blocked the view or the light from their house. The only way you could disregard this right was by having a praetorial servitude and you needed a good reason to do so. They considered mountains and rivers to be “natural views” that one should have the right to enjoy. In modern law, this would fall under the name of urbanism rules, but in Lebanon we all know that skyscrapers are so much nicer than a sea view, right?

3. Right to water

As rivers were seen to be a common property, everyone had the right to have access to the water. Therefore, if anyone was to pollute a water source the person affected by it could bring an action against that particular person and claim damages. Even back then, they had realized how important the conservation of natural resources was and economic reasons were not seen to justify damages that could be done. We, on the other side, live in the richest country in water (in the Middle East) and still have to buy water to have showers and cannot go swimming in the sea/rivers without risking skin cancer or whatever undiscovered disease.

4. Repudium: A breaking off of the contract of a marriage

Women in the Roman Empire had potentially more rights than Lebanese women today when it came to family law. As Roman women were able to break off a marriage or get a divorce, Lebanese women still can’t to our present day, even if they’re in an abusive relationship the law does not support them.

Let’s just have a laugh instead of crying, shall we?