A proposito delle recenti tendenze della manualistica di diritto privato romano

This article aims to examine recent research trends in Roman private law studies by analyzing the recently published Handbuch des Römischen Privatrechts (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2023), edited by Ulrike Babusiaux, Christian Baldus, Wolfgang Ernst, Franz-Stefan Meissel, Johannes Platschek and Thomas Rüfner. The article's main objective is to examine the structure and methods employed in this 3,700-page, two-volume handbook (plus indexes), which seeks to provide an overview of the entire field of Roman private law from a primarily procedural perspective. The first part of the Handbuch des Römischen Privatrechts, however, deals with the fundamentals and institutes of private law from the point of view of substantive law, while the second part is properly devoted to litigation and the various actiones known to the Romans. Eventually, this contribution evaluates the role played by this handbook nowadays and in the future of Roman law studies, comparing it to the one played by Max Kaser's two seminal volumes on Roman private law and Roman private law procedure. In doing so, it recognizes that the Handbuch des Römischen Privatrechts would become an essential reference point for Roman law scholars for years to come.