The legal structure of asset-sharing and the framework of Roman Law

Looking at comparative law as a set of available solutions requires referring not only to current legal orders, but also to other universal solutions encapsulated in Roman legal thought. Through the prism of the Roman contract of locatio–conductio (letting and hiring), one can look at dynamically developing new forms of asset-sharing in a specific period of the economy, known as the ‘sharing economy’. Previous distinctions concerning the types of specific contracts that serve the use of other people’s goods and services are blurred in the face of various forms of asset-sharing and the rise of mixed contracts. Through a diachronic reference to Roman law solutions and synchronous analysis of contemporary solutions, the paper will focus on how and why the Roman contract of locatio-conductio provided a single conceptual framework for various ways of sharing goods and services, and whether it is today possible to ‘abstract’ a similar structure of contracts used for asset-sharing.

A sandwich lunch will be available from 12.30. The meeting will begin at 1pm.