Historical remarks on the pandectist system

Abstract

The pandectist system is the result of a lengthy development starting at the time of the glossators and ending during the 19th century. The Glossators and the Commentators based the presentation of the legal material on the system of the institutes developed by Gaius and the compilators of emperor Justinian. The division into a general part and special parts within the pandectist system is the idea of the representants of the trend of natural law, in particular of Christian Wolff, Joachim Georg Darjes and Daniel Nettelbladt. The „general part“ of the pandectist system is the achievement of the German science of Pandects. The law of persons and the regulation regarding the legal protection are rooted in Roman law whereas the parts on the subjective law(s) and the theory of legal transactions are in relation with the science of natural law. The pandectist system was elaborated by Georg Friedrich Puchta and Friedrich Carl von Savigny. Savigny shows in his work „System des heutigen römischen Rechts“ the legal material in the pandectist sytem (General part, Law of things, Law of obligations, Family law and Law of successions)..