All Scholars

Paul Jörs mother died in the year that he was born and his father in 1874 as Jörs was completing his study at the Weimar Gymnasium. Two years later he began history studies at Bonn, then transferred to law. His most influential teacher, the historian Carl van Noorden (1833-83) introduced him to the methodology of source research. At Bonn he made a lifelong friend and adviser of the future jurist Roderich Stintzing (1854-1933). He combined his interests in history and law in his dissertation, which investigated Augustan marriage legislation. His Römische Rechtswissenschaft established him as the leading legal historian of the Roman period, though only the first volume (of two planned) appeared. Once in Vienna he supplemented his study of the traditional historical and legal sources by introducing evidence from newly discovered legal documents on papyri from Roman Egypt. His philological background allowed him to transcribe and translate documents for use by legal scholars who had fewer resources than he. His articles reported discoveries in documentary, admonitory, and enforcement procedure in Roman Egypt. He was essentially the Roman law adviser to Pauly-Wissowa, to which he contributed 55 articles on the subject.  Römische Recht was published posthumously but became the standard handbook of Roman private law and went through multiple revised editions under the editorship of Wolfgang Kunkel (1902-81) and others, remaining in use well into the late twentieth century.