The germs of environmental protection in Roman law

Abstract Most legal institutions of modern civil law have their origins, at least in principle, in Roman law. This can also be seen in cases and legal reasoning related to the environment since certain rudiments or precursors of modern environmental law can be found in the writings of classical Roman jurists. Nevertheless, it would be an overstatement to speak of Roman environmental law. The focus of Roman classical jurists was on the protection of concrete property rights, mainly in neighborhood contexts. Only a few cases show that the underlying motive of legal argument was the protection of public interest, which brings these cases closer to the idea of modern environmental law.