THE PRINCIPLE OF RELATIVITY OF THE EFFECTS OF A CONTRACT IN ROMAN LAW

The matter of contracts had a particularly important place in Roman law, a place imposed by the boundless vitality of legal institutions regarding the obligations: they exceeded the boundaries of the era that created them and were applied, with certain adaptations, in the societies and ages that followed. Thus, many of the legal concepts on which the current legal system is based on have their origin in Roman law. But, especially in the matter of contracts, the Romans managed to give them such a precise wording that they remained, for the most part, unchanged in terms of the way the elements were formed and the effects produced. The explanation lies in the fact that Roman law was formed in close connection with the economic and social realities in Rome and evolved procedurally, being the faithful expression of a society based on private property and the exchange economy. As such, Roman jurisconsults and praetors created principles that today represent the substrate of modern legislation in the field of private law. For these reasons, the study of Roman law constitutes the starting point in understanding the genesis and evolution of some important legal institutions, such as the principle of relativity of contract effects. In the present study I propose to search for the origins of this principle which applied throughout the history of Roman law, being expressed by the adage: „res inter alios acta aliis neque nocere neque prodesse potest” (the contract concluded between some people neither injures nor benefits others). This rule, having a general character, found its application in three other principles: nullity of the stipulation for another, nullity of the promise for another and non-representation in contracts.