Kategorie wieku w prawie rzymskim
Categories of ages in roman law

Summary/Abstract: The topic of age categories in Roman law includes issues connected with the demographic situation in ancient Rome and the significance of age limits in Roman public and private law. Reaching a specific age limit resulted in tangible legal effects which allowed for growing involvement in social and political life. Due to this age limits were of interest to Roman jurists, and law analyzed in detail the effects of reaching a certain age by a physical person, in terms of both private law (capability for legal actions, physical maturity, accountability for delicta and crimina) and public law (cursus honorum). It is not only Roman law that recognizes age categories as a determinant for the scope of citizen’s rights, resulting from both private and public laws. Similarly Polish contemporary civil, constitutional and criminal law recognizes the age factor while defining matters related to the scope of capacity for legal actions, active and passive right to vote as well as criminal ccountability. Obviously, within the contemporary law it is difficult to trace direct analogies to Roman concepts, yet the method of defining the scope of rights and obligations based on one’s age retains its relevance in the modern times.

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