Latin Legal Terminology in the Monuments of Georgian Law

Abstract

The article focuses chiefly on the research of Latin legal terminology presented in written monuments of Georgian Law in the 11th-21st centuries. It describes the long history of endeavors to establish the existence of Latin legal terms in Georgian legal sources, how they were received during different epochs, the regularities of forming these terms in the Georgian language, their initial meanings and other noteworthy details that are important not only from a philological perspective but from a legal point of view. Despite the fact that Georgia was never under the ruling of the Roman Empire, and hence, — Latin legal terms never entered Georgian law directly from Roman law or from the Latin language, from as early as the 11th century these terms made a significant impact on the creation of Georgian legal terminology. Overall, they greatly contributed to approximating Georgian law to Western legal culture.