CPLC Work in Progress Seminar: 'The Legal and Financial Structure of Roman Maritime Loans from the Second Century BCE to Justinian'

Speaker: Dr Peter Candy, University of Cambridge

Ancient maritime trade was characterised by high cost and extreme uncertainty. Merchants had not only to transport their goods along perilous routes, but also to fund the acquisition of expensive cargoes in the hope and expectation of making a profit. The legal institution that developed to meet these challenges was the ‘maritime loan’: a sum of money lent on the basis that the debtor was not obliged to repay unless the ship arrived safely at its destination. Through the evidence of contracts from the Roman period, this paper will examine the ways in which maritime credit agreements were structured in practice and the implications of this analysis for our understanding of the Roman legal texts.

This seminar is open to all LLM, MCL and PhD students, Faculty members and Faculty visitors.