Early compilations of imperial legislation

Collections of imperial constitutions began to be produced as early as the second century AD. These included various libri mandatorum^ and compilations of rescripta and decreta.

We know, for example, of a collection of thirteen rescripts of Septimius Severus published in 200 AD and a collection of decreta produced by the jurist Paul in the closing years of the Principate.^[1142] [1143] [1144] By the end of the third century the confusion in the practice of law caused by the ever-growing and chaotic mass of imperial constitutions gave rise to an urgent need for them to be collected together in an orderly fashion. This led to the publication, probably in 291 AD, of the Codex Gregorianus, a compilation of imperial enactments, mostly rescripts, from the time of Hadrian up to that of Diocletian.^[1145] This collection was followed in c. 295 AD by the Codex Hermogenianus, a compilation of constitutions issued during the reign of Diocletian.^[1146] A second edition of this work, containing constitutions of both Diocletian and Constantine, appears to have been published around 314 AD. The Gregorian and Hermogenian Codes were private collections and, as such, had no legislative force. The fact that their authors had access to the imperial archives, from which they reproduced a large number of constitutions in their original form, suggests that they held important state positions and that they must have carried out their work under official supervision. As neither of the above-mentioned collections has survived, modem reconstructions are based on extracts included in the Code of Justinian, the Fragmenta Vaticana, the Collatio and other post-classical compilations of law.^[1147]

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