Dharma and Imperium: A Comparative Study of the Manusmriti and Classical Roman Law

Abstract

This article presents a comparative analysis of two foundational legal systems of antiquity: the Manusmriti (Mānava-Dharmaśāstra) of ancient India and the classical Roman legal tradition spanning the Twelve Tables to the Corpus Juris Civilis. Despite their temporal and geographical distance, both systems addressed universal questions of order, justice, authority, and social hierarchy. The article examines how each civilization conceptualized law's origins—dharma as cosmic duty versus ius as human enactment—and how these foundational philosophies shaped legal institutions, social stratification, family relations, criminal justice, and judicial administration. While the Manusmriti presents law as inseparable from religious obligation, embedded in a divinely ordained caste hierarchy, Roman law evolved as a secular, juristically sophisticated system that distinguished law from morality and religion. The article critically evaluates both traditions' treatment of women, slaves, and lower social groups, engages modern scholarly critiques including postcolonial and feminist perspectives, and assesses their enduring influence on contemporary legal systems. It concludes that whereas the Manusmriti's authority derived from its claim to transcendent revelation, Roman law's flexibility and jurisprudential methodology enabled its adaptation across millennia, shaping civil law traditions worldwide.