Alle origini della tutela giuridica del consumatore: fondamenti romanistici della disciplina europea

This contribution was intended to compare certain aspects of the protection of the contractor's weakness in the contract of sale, which is currently coinciding with that of the consumer, focusing on some institutes present in Roman law, in which some situations of contractual disparity emerge. In the Edict of Curuli, the Republican magistrates established special rules for declaring consealed vices in slave and animal sales, assuming an objective liability of the seller who did not abide by the building regulations. An important intervention that went to define a sectoralization of matter, framed within the sale in general. This resulted in an overlapping of plans in the negotiating legal framework: at the horizontal level, the regulation of the sale was envisaged by the civilian government, while on the vertical plane the special one, honorary laureates, provided by the edict of curious edifices, was incorporated. This is also the case with the European Directive 1999/44 / EC on the sale of consumer goods, which is the most striking manifestation of the European legislator's role in consumer protection in contractual matters. As in the old world, regulatory action in Directive 1999/44 / EC is due to the apparent need to create a greater protection space, specially reserved to certain subjects, as well as limited to matter and space.