Debt security plays a prominent role in the modern business world. The primary goal of debt security is to enable the creditor to repay his claim more easily. On the other hand, if there are more possibilities for securing a certain claim and if the quality of the offered insurance is higher, more creditors will be willing to create obligations between them and the debtors, and the debtors will consequently find it easier to obtain the necessary funds for their business. Like many legal institutes, some of those used for debt security originate in Roman law. Certain forms of debt security are typical solely of Roman law, while others appeared later; when comparing modern Slovenian law with Roman law, we can obviously find the latter forms only in the present time. A good example of a form of debt security that existed solely in Roman law is nexum. In the case of nexum, non-payment of obligation encroached on the human body, which is of course unimaginable in modern times, with the protection of human rights being in the forefront. Even in Roman law this method of debt security was only typical of earlier periods. Given the extent of advancement of Roman law, it is not surprising that institutes such as suretyship and lien evolved within, the latter having developed gradually through the institute fiducia cum creditore contracta. Both institutes play an important role both in Roman law and modern Slovenian law, which has largely adopted the two institutes from Roman law. Moreover, Roman law already differentiated between possessive and non-possessive right of lien. The biggest issue with the latter was a lack of public registers, while such register now exists for the modern Slovenian law to rely on. Suretyship in Roman law developed from a solidarity type to a subsidiary one, which is the basic type of suretyship in Slovenian law as well. The insurance of debt in Roman law was very well established. Despite certain differences with modern Slovenian law, it represents a good foundation for our regulations, and offers insight into the development of certain institutes, which also allows us to understand them better.
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