The most important legal undertaking of Antiquity was the compilation of what was later called Corpus luris Civilis promulgated by Emperor Justinian.
It is rightly said that this body of laws and jurisprudence, along with Aristotelian writings and the Bible, constitutes one of the three pillars of Western culture. The Corpus luris, a true temple of justice, is both an endpoint and a starting point in world history.
Histories of Rome usually end with Justinian’s Corpus luris; Byzantine histories and Western legal histories, on the other hand, begin with the Corpus luris. Justinian’s codification is the bridge that links Antiquity, the Byzantine Empire, and Europe. It is also the link between civil law and common law, and between canon law and civil law. To know about the Corpus luris is to know about something that was instrumental for the development of justice and law in the past, continues to operate in the present, and will probably have its impact in the future. The Corpus luris, especially the Digest, has not only a historic value but an intrinsic one because it embodied the creative spirit and permanent character of all of Roman jurisprudence.
More on the topic The most important legal undertaking of Antiquity was the compilation of what was later called Corpus luris Civilis promulgated by Emperor Justinian.:
- 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]
- Justinian’s compilation
- The Corpus Iuris Civilis
- 1. Contract and pacta in the Corpus Juris Civilis
- Emperor Justinian
- 12 JUSTINIAN AND THE CORPUS IURIS
- 5 Justinian and the Corpus Iuris
- The major reform on intestacy of Emperor Justinian
- LEGAL SCIENCE AND RHETORIC IN JUSTINIAN'S DIGEST
- CODIFICATIONS IN LATE ANTIQUITY
- Legal Development from the End of Justinian'lang=EN-US>s Reign to the Accession of Basil I the Macedonian