The Gregorian and Hermogenian Codes
The Gregorian and Hermogenian Codes are two collections, consisting mainly of rescripts, published around 300 ce. The two collections were probably the first legal works to appear in the form of a codex, a book constructed of a number of sheets of vellum, papyrus, or similar materials bound together, rather than the traditional scroll format.
Unfortunately, neither the Gregorian nor the Hermogenian Code survived. We know parts of them basically through the Justinian Code. The Gregorian Code consisted mainly of private rescripts from Hadrian to Diocletian (until 290), while the Hermogenian Code consisted almost entirely of private rescripts between Diocletian and his colleagues issued in 293 and 294. Both codes remained in circulation until the publication of the Justinian Code in 528, which incorporated many of their laws.We have no information about the author of the Gregorian Code beyond that the code used his name: Gregorius or Gregorianus. We know, however, that the Hermogenian Code was collected by Hermogenianus, a prominent lawyer of the Diocletian court, probably Dioclecians magister libellorum (master of petitions) from the beginning of 293 to the end of 294. After 294, Hermogenianus probably served Western co-emperor Maximinian in the same capacity, and he completed the code in Milan in 295. Around 300, Hermo- genianus published six books of Iuris epitomae (Summaries of law), a digest or synopsis that tried to offer the basic law and legal principles of his time in an easy format to legal practitioners.
The Gregorian and Hermogenian Codes are relevant for the history of Roman law because they spread imperial law around the empire in a systematic and comprehensive way and in accordance with the practical needs of governors, officials, lawyers, and Roman citizens in general. The codes also confirmed the dominance of the imperial creation and interpretation of normative legal sources.
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- CODES AND AUTHORITY
- LAW CODES AND CODIFICATIO
- The Germanic Codes of Roman Law
- “PUBLIC” CODES AND “PRIVATE” SYSTEMS
- The Germanic Codes of Roman Law
- From the sixteenth century to the introduction of the first European civil codes
- Roman Law Codes and the Roman Legal Tradition
- Justinians Code
- The Code
- The First Code
- The Code
- The Theodosian Code
- The Theodosian Code
- Legal scholars use the term civil law systems to describe the legal systems of all those nations predominantly within the historical tradition derived from Roman law as transmitted to Continental Europe through the Corpus Iuris Civilis of Emperor Justinian.[834]
- EARLY CODIFICATIONSIN GERMANY AND AUSTRIA
- Contents
- CODIFICATIONS IN LATE ANTIQUITY
- EXEGESIS OF D 14.2 AND PAULI SENTENTIAL 2.7
- CONCLUSIONS