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Freedom of Contract and Restraint of Trade Clauses in Roman and Modern Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 October 2011

Andreas Wacke
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Extract

The interplay between the Roman economic and legal orders is one of the most important areas calling for research and analysis. There is no lack of excellent descriptions of the economic life of antiquity. In contrast, legal-historical enquiries into the legal-economic issues of Roman times are still in the initial stages. This dearth of research is mainly the result of the unsatisfactory state of Roman legal sources, which rarely deal with economic issues. It is a stroke of luck to find sufficient documentation on any specific topic. One such fortunate case, that of restraint of trade, exists. There are no fewer than seven Digest texts on the topic. These will be analyzed below, in conjunction with a comparative survey of the development of this aspect in modern law.

Type
Articles
Information
Law and History Review , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , Spring 1993 , pp. 1 - 19
Copyright
Copyright © the American Society for Legal History, Inc. 1993

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References

This article is a summary of “Wettbewerbsfreiheit und Konkurrenzverbotsklauseln im antiken und modernen Recht,” Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte, Romanist. Abt. 91 (Wien/Köln, 1982), 188–215. Most important former publications in this regard are: Schiller, A. A., “Restraint of Trade in Classical Roman Law,” in Mnemosyne Pappoulia (Athens, 1934), 222–44Google Scholar [this article is not republished in the author's collected writings: Schiller, A. A., An American Experience in Roman Law (Göttingen 1971)]Google Scholar, and Provera, G., “Visuali romanistiche in tema di patti di non concurrenza,” Il diritto dell'economica 6 (1965): 789–914Google Scholar; also Annali Camerino 31 (1965): 223–51.

1. General literature on Roman economie life: Charlesworth, M. P., Trade-Routes and Commerce of the Roman Empire (Cambridge, 1924, repr. Hildesheim, 1961)Google Scholar; de Martino, E., Storia economica di Roma antica, 2 vols. (Florence 1979)Google Scholar, [German translation: Wirtschaftsgeschichte des alten Rom (München, 1985)]; Duncan-Jones, R., The Economy of the Roman Empire, 2d ed., (Cambridge, 1982)Google Scholar; Finley, M. I., The Ancient Economy (Berkeley, 1973)Google Scholar; Heichelheim, F., An Ancient Economic History, 3 vols. (Leiden, 1958–1970)Google Scholar; Jones, A. H. M., The Later Roman Empire 284–602: A Social, Economic and Administrative Survey 2 vols. (Oxford, 1973)Google Scholar; Rostovtzeff, M., The Social and Economic History of the Roman Empire, 2d ed., 2 vols. (Oxford, 1957).Google Scholar

2. Tengström, E., Bread for the People: Studies of the Corn-Supply of Rome (Stockholm, 1974)Google Scholar; Rickman, G., The Corn Supply of Ancient Rome (Oxford, 1980)Google Scholar; Galsterer, H., “Plebiculam pascere: Die Versorgung Roms in der Kaiserzeit,” Critica Storica 27 (1) (1990): 21–40.Google Scholar

3. Waltzing, J. P., Étude historique sur les corporations professionelles chez les romains, 4 vols. (1895–1900, repr. Hildesheim, 1970), 1:181–190Google Scholar; Mickwitz, G., Die Kartellfunktionen der Zünfte (1936, repr. Amsterdam, 1968), 166 et seq.Google Scholar

4. Santalucia, B., I libri opinionum di Ulpiano, 2 vols. (Milano, 1971)Google Scholar defends the work as authentic; against him, however, more or less doubting the reviews by Wieacker, Labeo 19 (1973): 196ff.; especially Liebs, , Tijdschrift voor Rechtsgeschiedenis 41 (1973): 279ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

5. Compare the striking similarity to a phrase in a constitution of Philippus (244–47 D., from the time of Ulpian's disciple Modestinus): Proconsule, si quid iniuriose geratur, ad sollicitudinem suam revocabit (Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum = CIL III S 14191 = Bruns Fontes Iuris Anteiustiniani I, 1909, 265 Nr. 93); and still earlier, in a testamentary clause, Scaevola in Digest 33.1.13 pr.

6. Digest 37.14.2, 8.4.13 pr., see below, parts 4 and 7.

7. Literature: Hueck, A. and Nipperdey, H. C., Lehrbuch des Arbeitsrechts, 7th ed. (Berlin, 1963), sect. 38Google Scholar; Gierke, J. v. and Sandrock, O., Handels- und Wirtschaftsrecht, 9th ed. (Berlin, 1975), sect. 24, II.3 and V.Google Scholar

8. A survey of the states belonging to the European Economic Community: Heinze Betriebsberater (1973), 1262 et seq. For Austria: Migsch, , Die absolut geschützte Rechtsstellung des Arbeitnehmers (Salzburg, 1972), 205 et seq.Google Scholar For Switzerland see Civil Code art. 32 Id sect. 3, art. 340 et seq.; Kuhn, René, Das Konkurrenzverbot im Arbeitsvertragsrecht (Muri bei Bern, 1981).Google Scholar

For South African Law: Kahn, E., “The rules relating to contracts in restraint of trade,” South African Law Journal (1968): 391Google Scholar; du Plessis, B. and Davis, D. M., “Restraint of trade and public policy,” South African Law Journal (1984): 86Google Scholar; Visser, C., “The principle ‘pacta servanda sunt’ in Roman and Roman-Dutch law, with specific reference to contracts in restraint of trade,” South African Law Journal (1984): 641–55Google Scholar; Schoombee, J. T., “Agreements in Restraint of Trade,” Tydskrif vir hedendaagse romeins-hollandse reg (1985): 127–51.Google Scholar

9. As expressed in the German HGB (Commercial Law Code) sects. 60f, 112, 113, 165.

10. Digest 38.1.26, see below, part 6.

11. See part 2, above.

12. See Treggiari, S., “Jobs for Women,” American Journal of Ancient History 1 (1976): 76–104.Google Scholar

13. See generally Jones, A. H. M., “The Cloth Industry under the Roman Empire,” Economic History Review 2, 13 (1960): 183ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar, reprinted in idem, The Roman Economy (1974), 350ff.

14. Compare recently Waldstein, W., Operae libertorum (Stuttgart, 1986), 308ff.Google Scholar

15. W. Waldstein, Operae libertorum, 300ff., 303–8; in favor of medicine as ars liberales: Kudlien, F., Die Stellung des Arztes in der römischen Gesellschaft (Wiesbaden, 1986), 92ff., 152ff.Google Scholar

16. Rightly: Watson, A., The Law of Persons in the Later Roman Republic (1967), 230f.Google Scholar