Le obligationes ex lege

Drawing upon the analysis of Art. 1173 of the Italian Civil Code, the author traces the famous definition of obligatio in paragraph I. 03.13 pr., focusing on the expression «secundum iura civitatis nostrae» that evokes, in the Justinian's Age, the so-called «obligationes ex lege». In more specific terms, he points to the formation of two origins of the notion of «obligatio»: the first one developed in the late Republican Age, founded on a voluntary basis; the other one arising from the State and which spread throughout late antiquity.