The Impact of an Empire: How Roman Law Ended in South Africa and Sri Lanka. An essay by M. Bazuine, student number 2097699 The establishment of a common law state is a powerful engine of cultural integration. It has been suggested that the willingness (and ability) of the Dutch Republic and Great Britain to implement their own legal systems in their distant colonies contributed to their success in creating a vast global empire. However, few realize that the interaction between the Dutch and English empire builders led to the introduction of what is essentially Roman law in both South Africa and Sri Lanka, where it provides a legal source for ensuring justice even Today. To think that even today people in court rely on the reasoning and thoughts of a scholar like Papianus to receive justice is a testament to the Romans' ability to deal with legal issues (especially those involving land, property and property).Flavius ​​Petrus Sabbatius Justinianus Augustus, better known as Justinian the Great, became the ruler of the Eastern Roman Empire in 527. Shortly after his rise to power, he initiated a major and long-awaited overhaul of the empire's legal system. To achieve this objective Justinian installed a commission led by the jurist (quaestor) Tribonia. The commission finally completed its work on what became known as the Corpus Iuris Civilis in 534. The Corpus, which encompasses the entire corpus of Roman imperial law, consists of the Codex Iustinianus, a codification of imperial constitutions dating back to the second century; the Digesta, a collection of even older legal texts; the Institutiones, essentially a study book that explains the principles of law; and th...... middle of paper ......h the invasion of France and the adoption of the Napoleonic Civil Code in 1809 (Art. 3 Wetboek Napoleon ingerigt voor het Koningrijk Holland). However, this codified system of laws was never introduced into the Dutch settlements of the Cape of Good Hope and Ceylon, which were conquered by the English in 1806 and 1796 respectively. Now an interesting oddity appears, for it was an established principle of law and English policy that colonies acquired by conquest should retain their old law. Therefore, Roman-Dutch law came to be defined as the “common law” of these territories. As such, Roman-Dutch law has managed to survive to the present day, usually in a hybrid form mixed with English law, and will continue to be applied in the courts of South Africa and Ceylon, as long as it remains unrepealed. which can be done (according to Papiano) tacit consensu as well as postea lege lata .