The Principles and Nature of Jewish Law

A professor at a prominent school of law relates that he was asked a rather incongruous question. On the last day of classes in a course on Roman law, a student soliciting information regarding the approaching final examination asked, "Are we responsible only for material in the textbook or are we responsible for recent cases as well?" It is, of course, ludicrous to speak of "recent cases" in conjunction with a system of law that, despite its continued and profound influence over other systems of law, has for many centuries not been sovereign in any jurisdiction.