Jean-Marie Lassère (1933 – 2015) was a French historian of law and academic specializing in Roman private law. He served as a professor at French universities, most notably at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon‑Sorbonne, where he taught courses on the history of Roman law. Lassère is best known for his scholarly contributions to the study of Roman legal institutions, particularly through his seminal works such as Histoire du droit privé romain (1995) and Éléments de droit romain, which have been widely used as reference texts in the fields of legal history and classical studies.
Lassère’s research focused on the development of private law concepts in antiquity, the transmission of Roman legal principles into medieval Europe, and the methodological approaches for interpreting ancient legal sources. His publications often combined rigorous philological analysis with a comparative perspective, emphasizing the continuity and transformation of legal doctrines over time.
In addition to his monographs, Lassère contributed numerous articles to academic journals and participated in editorial boards for series dedicated to the history of law. He was recognized by his peers for his ability to make complex legal material accessible to both specialists and students, thereby influencing generations of scholars in the discipline.
References to his work appear in standard bibliographies of Roman law, and his textbooks continue to be cited in contemporary research on ancient legal systems.