Giedrė Urbanavičiūtė
Vilniaus universiteto Teisės fakulteto
Teisės teorijos ir istorijos katedros doktorantė
Saulėtekio al. 9, i rūmai, lT-10222 Vilnius
Tel. (+370 5) 236 61 75
El. paštas: giedre.urbanaviciute@tf.vu.lt
Summary
The discovery of the manuscripts of Justinian‘s Digests in Pisa at the end of XI century caused great interest. All the main works made in this field are connected with the Bolognese School of Glossators. It is a merit of this School that these manuscripts were analysed, interpreted and spread out in the world. For this reason the Roman Law is still alive nowadays. Thanks to the Glossators, legal studies for the first time in history became an independent discipline and the basis for the higher education was settled.Tthe most prominent names of the Bolognese Glossators were the following: Irnerius, Pepo (Pepone), the so called “Four Doctors” which include Bulgarus, Martinus Gosia, Ugo, Iacobus, then Vacarius, Piacentinus, Azo (Azzone) and Accursius.the activity of the School of Glossators covered a period going approximately from the XI to the XIII century. To be more precise, two years could be proposed to symbolise respectively the beginning and the end of the Glossator Era: they are the year 1088 that is considered the beginning of the Uuniversity of Bologna and the year 1250 that is related to the Glossa Ordinaria, the work of Accursius that gives the meaning for all the works of Glossators. Aand even after the decadence of this School its ideas continued to be firmly alive in the activity of their followers and other researchers. Ttherefore the Rroman Llaw reached not only the European countries, though every corner of the entire world making it universal and comprehensible, letting it to be interpreted as the ideal of the law. Nevertheless these merits, the Bolognese School of Glossators was not saved from receiving critics. Glossators were blamed for focusing upon manuscripts of Justinian’s meanwhile being blind to the law and the circumstances of their age. Other concerns were raised because of their concentration in theory and pure texts ignoring and neglecting the questions of practice. Even though critic existed, it was not always adequately grounded. Anyway, the importance of the works of the Bolognese School for the Western Llegal Ttradition and History in general could not be minimally denied nor reduced by any critic ever.Tthe value of the Bolognese School of Glossators can definitely be appreciated simply by rhetorically wondering which Romsn Law would we know nowadays, if we even would have known it, what would be the legal studies, if they even would have been and what kind of University would we have, if any would have been without the Bolognese School of Glossators?