Wolność i godność w starożytnym Rzymie – dobra osobiste czy społeczne? Kilka uwag na tle poglądów Borysa Łapickiego

This paper takes an effort to present views of Roman law professor Borys Łapicki on the concept and meaning of liberty and dignity in ancient Rome. He saw a close relationship between these two ideas and he was trying to prove its social character. Borys Łapicki pointed out resulting in that kind of connection from the role of ethics in the development of ancient Roman law. However, applying the Marxist method in science was also used in some of his books. Despite criticisms in relation to Borys Łapicki’s works, his contribution to research on Roman law should be appreciated. He was both a scientist and humanist and he tried to pay attention to an ethic component in Roman law and this makes his ideas of liberty and dignity universal. It forms part of the concept of romanesimo which is understanding the Roman law as an important part of achievement European civilization and some kind of appropriate role model of legal culture.