Juridical literature

Of the literary sources of particular importance are the surviving works of the Roman jurists of the pre-classical and classical periods. Most of these works have come down to us in a fragmentary form and only indirectly through the codification of Justinian and other post-classical compilations of law.

But questions arise as to whether many of the surviving fragments accurately reflect the original sources from which they were derived, as they may have been simplified and in various ways adapted to the needs and purposes of the post-classical compilers. The only juristic work from the classical period that has survived in its entirety is the Institutes of Gaius, a textbook dating from the middle of the second century AD. Although the manuscript containing this work dates from the fifth or early sixth century AD - more than three centuries after Gaius's time - it is believed that it is a faithful reproduction of the original text. This was confirmed after the discovery in 1933 in Egypt of fragments of another manuscript of Gaius's Institutes, probably of the late fourth century, matching the text of the first manuscript. About a tenth of the manuscript's content is lost or totally illegible, but some of the missing parts have been reconstructed from extracts included in later compilations.

Another important source of juristic literature is the so-called Vatican Fragments (Fragmenta Vaticana), a general collection of juristic opinions and imperial legislation discovered in the Vatican library in 1821.^{^[1]} A further collection, known as the Collatio legum Mosaicarum et Romanarum (A Comparison of Mosaic and Roman Law), dates from the late fourth or early fifth century AD and was first published in Paris in 1573.^{^[2]} This collection has been particularly helpful in reconstructing the Pauli Sententiae, an important work based on the writings of the classical jurist Paul.

Extracts from the latter work, which was produced by an unknown author in about 300 AD, have been included in a number of post- classical compilations besides the Collatio, as well as in the Digest of Justinian. In this connection the Ulpiani Epitome may be mentioned as well. This was probably an abridgment of the liber singularis regularum, a work of the jurist Ulpian, produced by an unknown author at the beginning of the fourth century AD. A manuscript of Ulpian's Epitome dating from the tenth century and first published in 1549 is now kept in the Vatican library. An additional source of juristic literature is the Consultatio {consultatio veteris cuiusdam iurisconsulti or 'a Consultation with an Ancient Jurisconsult'), first published by Cujas in 1577.^{^[3]} In this work a number of legal questions are defined and then answered on the basis of statements drawn from classical and post-classical authorities. These include various passages from Paul's Sententiae and extracts from collections of imperial legislation (the Gregorian, Hermogenian and Theodosian Codes). Among the main surviving sources from the eastern part of the Roman empire are the Scholia Sinaitica ^{^[4]} and the Syrio-Roman Book of Law. The former consists of extracts from a commentary in Greek on Ulpian's libri ad Sabinum, probably of the late fifth century. The Syrio- Roman Book of Law consists of imperial constitutions and juristic writings and appears to have been used at the law schools of the East as a textbook for students.^{^[5]}

Important sources of information on the development of Roman law are also the legal codes of the post-classical period. Among the earliest of these codes were two private collections of imperial laws, the Codex Gregorianus and the Codex Hermogenianus, compiled at the end of the third century AD. Although neither has survived, parts of these codes have come down to us through other post-classical compilations.^{^[6]} The first official codification of imperial legislation was the Theodosian Code {Codex Theodosianus), published in 438 AD.

Fragments of this code have been included in later collections, such as the Code of Justinian and the Lex Romana Visigotharum. Moreover two manuscripts, one dating from the fifth and the other from the sixth century, have been found containing parts of the code's original text. Several important reconstructions of the Theodosian Code have been published since the sixteenth century.^{^[7]}[8]Another collection of imperial laws is the so-called Sirmondian Constitutions {constitutiones Sirmondi)? This contains a number of imperial constitutions dating from the first half of the fifth century AD. Besides the above compilations of Roman origin, important sources are also the Germanic codes of Roman law (leges Romanae Barbarorum) issued by Germanic kings after the fall of the Roman empire of the West for use by their Roman subjects. These compilations include the lex Romana Visigotharum, also known as the Breviary of Alarie (Breviarium Alarici), the lex Romana Burgundionum, and the Edictum Theodorici. Although the Roman law contained in these compilations is but a crude and diluted version of the law of the classical period, their importance for the study of Roman law today is great. Besides offering a vivid account of the stage of the law and society at the beginning of the early Middle Ages, these codes have preserved valuable legal records from earlier times which cannot be found in any other sources.^{^[9]}

But the most important source of our knowledge about the historical development of Roman law, especially during the late classical and post- classical periods, is the great codification of the law which was carried out in the middle of the sixth century on the orders of Emperor Justinian. It was Justinian who finally succeeded, at a moment when the ancient world was dissolving, in putting together, in a form which could survive, the vast literature of Roman law stretching back over hundreds of years of legal development. The Justinianic codification is made up of four parts: a) the Digest (Digesta), containing a large number of excerpts from the works of the classical jurists;^{^[10]} b) the Code (Codex), a collection of imperial constitutions from the time of Emperor Hadrian (middle of the second century AD); c) the Institutes (Institutiones), an introductory textbook on law based on the Institutes of Gaius and d) the Novels (Novellae leges),

10 The Historical and Institutional Context of Roman Law

containing enactments of Justinian subsequent to the publication of the Code. The term Corpus luris Civilis, by which the Justinianic codification is known, was first introduced by Dionysius Gothofredus, who edited the work in 1583."

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Source: Mousourakis George. The Historical and Institutional Context of Roman Law. Routledge,2003. — 480 p.. 2003

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