Evolution of roman jurisdiction rules in the eu legislative and case law practice in the xxi century

Abstract

The enactment of EU Regulations in the field of jurisdictional competence has proved its undeniable Justinian origin. This Roman presence has been confirmed by CJEU case-law, as some of its decisions refer to the concepts and competence rules that were applied by Roman jurists. The habitual address as main criterion for the determination of the jurisdictional competence has been completed, not only by the remittance to the forum rei sitae, forum delicti commissi or forum solutionis, but also by new concepts as "habitual residence" (that complement "address"). We can perceive that the EU legislator needs to apply exceptional or privileged competence criteria with the aim of adapting Roman basis to the new construction of XXI century laws. However, these are undoubtedly an adaptation of classical criteria developed two thousand years ago..