The Code

The old Code

On 13 February 528 AD Justinian, by means of an imperial constitution known as Constitutio Haec, assigned to a ten-member commission composed of high officials and advocates, including Tribonian and the jurist Theophilus, the task of consolidating into a single code all the imperial enactments still valid.

The commissioners drafted, in accordance with their instructions, a code drawing from the Gregorian, Hermogenian and Theodosian Codes and from constitutions issued between 438 and 529, omitting all obsolete laws and also changing some so as to bring them up to date. The constitutions were classified according to subject-matter and were arranged in chronological order under separate titles. On 7 April 529 the work was published under the name Codex lustinianus and was given the force of law as from 16 April 529 (Constitutio Summa). The Codex lustinianus replaced the earlier codes, and imperial enactments not included in it were forbidden to be quoted in the courts of law (with a few exceptions). However, the mass of new legislation issued by Justinian after 529 soon rendered the Code obsolete and, in 534 AD, it was superseded by a revised edition. All that has come down to us from Justinian's first Code, referred to as Codex vetus (the old Code), is an index found on a fragment of papyrus in Egypt in the early nineteenth century.^{^[1268]}

The second Code

At the beginning of 534 AD Justinian informed the senate of Constantinople that he had commissioned Tribonian, Dorotheus and three advocates to prepare a revised edition of the Code. The revised Code was to incorporate, under appropriate titles, the large number of imperial enactments that had been issued subsequent to the first Code, including the 'Fifty Decisions' (quinquaginta decisiones), a series of ordinances issued by Justinian for the purpose of settling certain controversial questions arising from the works of the classical jurists.^{^[1269]} As with the first Code, the commission was instructed to omit all obsolete matter and to remove unnecessary repetitions and contradictions. The new Code was published under the name Codex repetitae praelectionis on 16 November 534 and came into force on 29 December 534 (constitutio Cordi).

It was divided into twelve books which were in turn subdivided into titles according to subject with imperial enactments in chronological order under each title. The first book is concerned with jurisdiction and ecclesiastical matters; books two to eight deal with private law; book nine pertains to criminal law; and books ten to twelve cover matters of administrative law. The oldest of the approximately 4000 imperial enactments included in the Code date from the time of Hadrian (early second century AD), whilst the majority (approximately 1200 constitutions) originate from the reign of Diocletian (late third/early fourth century AD). About 400 of Justinian's own enactments are included. Each constitution is headed by the name of the emperor who had issued it and the names of the persons to whom it was addressed. The vast majority of the constitutions are written in Latin, but some of those issued by Justinian appear in Greek. As with the first Code, the new Code was to be the sole authority with respect to all imperial legislation that had been issued up to the date of its publication.^{^[1270]} Shortly after its coming into force several copies of the Code were produced which, despite Justinian's prohibition, included commentaries and summaries by jurists of the time. Parts of one of these later manuscripts has come down to us through a palimpsest dating from the sixth or early seventh century. The text of the Code underwent considerable alterations in the hands of medieval commentators but, under the influence of the humanist movement, it was partly restored during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.^{^[1271]}

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

The Code

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