What describes the influence of Roman law on medieval legal systems?

• A. It disappeared after the fall of Rome and had no influence on later law.
• B. It was preserved only in monasteries, with no influence on law.
• C. It led to the revival through the Corpus Juris Civilis.
• D. It was revived through the Corpus Juris Civilis and influenced canon and civil law; universities studied Digest and Institutes; legal reasoning shaped governance.

Answer: (D)

The main idea is that Roman law remained alive in medieval Europe through a revival centered on the Corpus Juris Civilis, and it then shaped both secular and ecclesiastical law as well as how law was taught and practiced. The Corpus Juris Civilis, compiled under Justinian, provided a comprehensive and organized body of Roman legal material—the Digest (pandects) and the Institutes serving as a textbook—that medieval scholars and jurists could study, interpret, and build upon. In universities such as Bologna, students learned these texts, and glossators and later jurists developed commentaries and methods of legal reasoning that integrated Roman principles with local customs. This educated approach spread Roman-law ideas into civil and canon law alike, influencing how courts operated, how property and contracts were regulated, and how governance itself was reasoned about and administered. So the revival through the Corpus Juris Civilis and its wide influence on canon and civil law, with universities studying the Digest and Institutes, best captures how Roman law shaped medieval legal systems.