Trade Secrets and the Roman Law; The Actio Servi Corrupti

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. ColumbiaLaw Review Association, Inc. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Columbia Law Review This content downloaded from 131.170.6.51 on Fri, 24 Jun 2016 10:45:30 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms TRADE SECRETS AND THE ROMAN LAW; THE ACTIO SERVI CORRUPTI1 The law of unfair competition, that heterogeneous concept of modern law, is relatively recent in origin.2 It is only the last century that has seen any great development of legal principles regarding simulation of goods, communication of trade secrets, disparagement of competitors, etc., that now play such an important factor in legal and business life. Economic and legal historians allege that prior to the Middle Ages the world had known no unfair competition.3 It is denied by scholars, for example, that the Roman state interfered with the competitive practices of private business men.4 As a partial negation of this view, this articleThe most common abbreviations employed are: D. = DIGESTA, In. = INSTITUTIONES, C. = CODEX IUSTINIANUS, three parts of the CORPUS IURIS CIVIus of Justinian. Other legal sources are G. = GAIUS, INSTITUTIONES; P. = PAULUS, SENTENTIAE; C.Th. = CODEX THEODOSIANUS. [ ] = interpolation, an addition to the classical text by the compilators of the Digest; <> = omission, a passage of the classical text omitted by the compilators; -= cumulation, one action concurrently available with another; a? = actio, action. BESELER, BEITRXGE = BESELER, BEITRAGE ZUR KRITIK DER ROMISCHEN RECHTS-QUELLEN, 4 parts (1910-20) ; BUCKLAND, SLAVERY = BUCKLAND, THE ROMAN LAW OF SLAVERY (1908); BULL. = BULLETTINO DELL ISTITUTO DI DIRITTO ROMANO; GUMMERUS, PW = Gummerus, Industrie und Handel (1916) 9 PAULY-WISSOWA-KROLL, REAL ENCYCLOPADIE DER CLASSISCHEN ALTERTUMSWISSENSCHAFT 1439 et seq.; INDEX INTERP. = INDEX INTERPOLATIONUM QUAE IN IUSTINIANI DIGESTIS DICUNTUR,

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“…25 at 1147. 26 Schiller (1930) at 845, 27 Cohen (1992) at 957. 28 Williamson (1975) at 25, Williamson (1985) at 47.…”

«shame on American Legal Education»: An Critical Reading of Alan Watson

“…У розділі «Абрахам Артур Шиллер» Алан Уотсон -сам будучи провідним експертом у римському праві -цікавиться професором Шиллером 1 , точніше його революційним (начебто) досягненням у галузі римського права 2 [1,[143][144][145][146][147][148][149][150][151][152]. Вважається, що А. Артур Шиллер відкрив, що сучасна «комерційна таємниця» безпосередньо сягає класичного права та права римських рабів 3 [16]. Фактично він стверджував, що формула участі у судовому процесі, іменована «Actio Servi Corrupti», а саме, можливість для рабовласника в античному Римі вимагати відшкодування збитку (й захисту, а також фізичної недоторканності) через (і проти) зловживання іншої особи, є цьому джерелом.…”

Trade Secrets Protection in the Context of Employment in China: the Law and the Business Operations

“…Trade secrets law has long addressed this dilemma by shedding light on confidential relationship between the discloser of information and the party with whom such information are communicated. The initiation of trade secrets rights can be traced back to early Roman times where Roman law frowned upon enticing a competitor"s employees (slaves) to divulge secrets relating to the master's commercial affairs 25 . In modern law, a fundamental principle is that employees owe a duty of care not to disclose the employer"s trade secrets 26 .…”