D. COMPARISON AND STRATIFICATION OF TEXTS

1. Parallel Comparison

$39 It is sometimes of value in research to juxtapose two texts in order to determine the extent to which one of them is based upon the other. A frequent instance is the publishing of parallel versions of the Institutes of Gaius and of Justinian, e.g., in

106.

Pellat, C. A. Manuale juris synopticum, in quo continentur Justiniani Institutiones cum Gaii Institutiones e regione oppositis perpetuae collator (Paris 1874),

Actually, a similar result is achieved by the employment of signs. Thus, in the stereotyped edition of the Institutes of Justinian, matter which has been borrowed from Gaius is enclosed within h -i, while that which is Justinianian in origin is placed within pointed brackets < >.

2. Stratification of Texts

a. It was fairly conclusively demonstrated decades ago that some of the inscriptions which have been discovered in Latin settlements in the provinces record a succession of legislative or administrative enactments, that is, show the insertion of amendments subsequent in lime into the text of the original pronouncement, ‘imposition of statutes’ as it is called. This is the argument of

107. Gradenwitz, O. ‘Versuch einer Dekomposition des Rubrischen Fragmentes’, Sitz.-Ber. Heidelberger Akad d. Wiss, phiL-hist. KL, 1915, 9 Abh.

108. Gradenwitz, O. ‘Die Stadtrechte von Urso... in Urtext und Beischrift aufgelost’, Sitz.-Ber. Heidelberger Akad d. Wiss., phil.-hist. KL, 1920, 17 Abh.

For a recent treatment of the same concept, see

109. Frederiksen, Μ. W. ‘The Republican Municipal Laws; Errors and Drafts’, JRS 55 (1965) 183-98.

b. A related form of textual transmission was demonstrated by

110. Levy, E. Pauli Sententiae, A Palingenesia of the Opening Titles as a Specimen of Research in West Roman Vulgar Law (Ithaca, N.Y., 1945).

The text, as it has come down to us, according to Levy, is an amalgam of six different layers contributed by various hands consciously (interpolation) or unconsciously (scribal error or careless incorporation of a gloss) through the years.

This research into layering of texts (‘Textstufenforschung’) has been extended by Wieacker in an attempt to discern matter which was added by later editors to the texts of the five classical jurists who later gained predominance in the Law of Citations, of 426 A.D? Wieacker’s theory is that new matter was incorporated into those classical works which had achieved recognition among legal practitioners, particularly when the form of publication by codex was substituted for that of papyrus rolls, circa 300 A.D. The thesis was advanced in

111. Wieacker, F. ‘Lebensläufe klassischer Schriften in nachklassischer Zeit’, SZfO (1950) 360-402.

The critical study of the layers of textual matter in the writtings of the jurists is

112. Wieacker, F. Textstufen klassischer Juristen bh. Akad. Wiss. Gottingen, phil.-hist. KI., 3 F., 45] (Gottingen 1960).

Attention has been called to this work in the survey of research tools in that the index of sources affords reference to suggested non-original elements in ostensibly classical texts.

d. A related conception, though its value for research has yet to be proven, is the manner in which each particular jurist cites the opinions of his predecessors. It has been argued that this affords clues to the working

I. Sec A. Biscaxdi, ‘La Icgge delie citaziouc*. Studi Senesi 53 (1939)406-17; F. Pringsbeim, 'Zur Textgeschichte des Zitiergesetzes’, SDHI 27 (1961) 235-40; as well as the standard textbooks, e.g., Buckland, Text-Bosk 33 f.

methods as well as to the points of view of the individual jurists. Tables of forms of citation (tabulae laudatoriae) have been prepared,

113. Honori, A. M. Gaius, /1 Biography (Oxford 1962) 131-80.

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Source: Schiller A.A.. Roman Law: Mechanisms of Development. Mouton Publishers,1978. — 606 p.. 1978

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