Contracts of Loan and Deposit as the Legal Basis of Financial Activity in Ancient Rome

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of private-law contractual mechanisms through which financial, including so-called banking, activity was carried out in Ancient Rome. The methodological starting point of the research is the absence of an independent institutional system of banking regulation in Roman law, which resulted in the realisation of financial operations within the framework of classical contractual constructions of ius civile, supplemented by the instruments of ius honorarium. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the contracts of loan (mutuum) and deposit (depositum), which constituted the legal core of financial intermediation in the Roman world. The article examines the legal nature and functional characteristics of the contract of depositum in both its classical and non-classical forms, including depositum irregulare, which was widely used in the practice of argentarii and allowed the deposited sums of money to be used by the depositary. The contract of mutuum is analysed as a universal legal form of credit, enabling the redistribution of accumulated financial resources and serving as the principal instrument of the active operations of Roman bankers. Special attention is also given to auxiliary contractual constructions (stipulatio, mandatum, societas), which facilitated the regulation of interest, payment orders, and forms of joint financial activity. The research is based on an analysis of relevant fragments of Justinian’s Digest, which makes it possible to trace the interaction between ius civile and ius honorarium in the regulation of financial relations, as well as on modern historical, legal, and economic scholarship concerning Roman banking practices. The article substantiates the thesis that financial activity in Ancient Rome functioned as a set of private-law relations grounded in the principle of autonomia privata, rather than as a distinct public-law institution. It is concluded that the flexibility of classical contractual models enabled the integration of complex financial practices into the system of Roman private law without the formation of a specialised body of banking legislation. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the historical and legal foundations of financial intermediation and may be useful for further comparative studies of Roman and modern banking law.