Oliver Unger, Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law
Location: G11
In Roman times, a citizen who voluntarily had buried a deceased's corpse could claim compensation from the person actually responsible for the burial by bringing the 'action for burial' (actio funeraria). The action was even granted in cases where the claimant had acted contrary to the defendant's explicit prohibition. Interestingly, in the late 19th century the draftsmen of the German Civil Code (BGB), when construing the law of benevolent intervention in another's affairs (Geschäftsführung ohne Auftrag), at one point explicitly relied on arguments from the - seemingly remote - area of Roman funeral law.
The paper will be in two parts. First, it will give a general outline of the main arguments and the methodological path that led to them. This concerns: (a) the precise way the actio funeraria, as it was perceived in 19th century Germany, shaped the process of codify the rules of benevolent intervention in another’s affairs; (b) the likely origins of the actio funeraria's underlying legal principle in the socio-cultural context of Augustan Rome; (c) some proposals on the application of the legal provision, that resulted from the actio funeraria's impact on the German codification, to contemporary burial cases. Secondly, it will turn to comparative perspectives, in particular, English law. For why it is commonly said that the common law is hostile to a legal duty to be a 'good samaritan' and perhaps even to recovering the costs of being so, it has in fact, probably by mediation of medieval church courts, absorbed the actio funeraria's underlying principle.
All welcome: Faculty, PhD student, LLM student and undergraduates.
If you have any questions, or would like to offer a paper, get in contact with Dr Matt Dyson on mnd21@cam.ac.uk
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