The Digest

The Digest (also officially called Pandects) constitutes the main part of Justinian’s compilation. On December 15, 530, Justinian addressed the constitution Deo Auctore to Tribonian.

The commission consisted of four law professors (Theophilus, Cratinus from Constantinople, and Dorotheus and Anatolius from Berytus) and some high officials and advocates of the court in Constantinople. The commissioners were able to complete their work in just three years because of their familiarity with legal writings. On December 16, 533, Justinian published the Digest (and the Institutes) through a constitution both in a Latin version (Tanta) and in a Greek version (Dedoken). The two versions were not entirely identical in content. Two weeks later, the Digest and the Institutes came into effect over the whole empire. In both versions of the constitution (Tanta/Dedoken §19), Justinian prohibited citing in court the original legal writings of ancient jurists. As a result, the Digest replaced altogether the study of original juristic writings in law schools.

The Digest is made up of fifty books and is divided into titles with title headings. It basically follows the arrangement of Justinian’s Code and the praetorian edict (Deo auctore §5). Every excerpt is identified by the name of its author, the title of the original work, and the number of the book in which it can be found. This does not mean, however, that each fragment is completely faithful to the original; the compilers had the capacity to make changes and alterations to adapt the texts to Justinian law.

In 1820, Friedrich Bluhme discovered that the compilers had divided the legal writings into three large bodies or groupings of authors and works, in order to distribute the commission’s work among three committees. These three groupings were: the edictal (542 books), the Sabinian (556 books), and the Papinian (294 books). There were 110 books not included in any of the three portions.

The first book provides a general introduction on law and justice, legal history, legal sources, and the jurisdiction of the magistrates, among other topics. From book 2 to book 5, the Digest addresses topics related to legal procedures; books 6 to 46 cover topics of private law (property, inheritance, and civil obligations); book 47 addresses private offenses; book 48 deals with public criminal law; book 49 refers to appeals, referrals, and the imperial treasure. Finally, book 50 refers to various topics on municipalities. At the end of book 50 is an explanation of legal terminology (D. 50.16) and a large compilation of legal rules (D. 50.17).

An almost complete manuscript of the Digest (codex Florentinus), probably produced at the end of the sixth century in the East, perhaps in Con­stantinople, has survived. It is therefore close in time to the reign of Justinian. The manuscript is also called littera Pisana because we know that in the twelfth century it was in Pisa. The large manuscript, comprising 907 sheets, is kept in the Laurentian Library in Florence.

The authoritative critical edition of the Digest (editio maior) was produced by Theodor Mommsen (1817-1903), the great historian and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. It was published in two volumes in Berlin, in 1868 and 1870. Some years later, a simplified edition was published (editio minor).

After Mommsen died, Paul Krüger, beginning in 1908, revised and edited the editio minor, incorporating valuable improvements. Italian professors Pietro Bonfante, Carlo Fadda, Contardo Ferrini, Salvatore Riccobono, and Vittorio Scialoja produced a useful pocket edition of the Digest, based mainly on the edition of Mommsen (1908; reprint 1949). The authoritative English transla­tion of the Digest was produced by Alan Watson.