The Origins of Roman Law

The roman legal code was codified in the sixth century by the emperor justinian, and it still serves as the basis of many modern european legal systems. The latin verb stara meant to stand, and its the root of the words stants, staunch, status, stationary and constant. This verb was combined with trace, or tria, meaning three, and produced a reconstructed latin word, tristis. And this is the basis of legal words like testimony and testiment in modern english. But modern legal traditions also borrow words directly from latin without any modification. Many of those terms are now part of the common english language.