The post-classical period
The unity of the Roman state, badly shaken by the crisis of the third century, was gradually restored in the later half of that century by a line of capable emperors elevated to the throne through the support of the army.
The work of these emperors was completed by Diocletian (284-305 AD), whose rise to power is traditionally taken to mark the beginning of a new phase in Roman history known as the Dominate. Under Diocletian and his successors the imperial government was transformed into an absolute monarchy of an Oriental-Hellenistic type. The administration was reorganised and measures were introduced aimed at the stabilisation of the economy and the strengthening of the empire's defences. But most of these measures proved short-lived and, as the empire's problems escalated, the forces of dissolution gathered momentum. In the later part of this period civil wars, invasions and economic decay plagued the empire, which was finally divided into an eastern and a western part in 395 AD. Within less than a century the western Roman empire finally succumbed to the invading Germanic tribes (476 AD). The eastern empire was transformed into the medieval Byzantine empire and, with Constantinople as its capital, survived for another 1100 years as an essentially Greek state.The legal history of this period is marked by the general decline of jurisprudence. The interpretations of the jurists ceased to be a living source of law and earlier juristic works came to be regarded as a body of finally settled doctrine. The only effective source of law was imperial legislation, largely concerned with matters of public law and economic policy. At the same time custom began again to play a part as a secondary source of law - a development which, in the western provinces in particular, led to what is referred to as the 'vulgarisation' of Roman law. As the body of imperial legislation continued to grow, there emerged the need for the codification of the law. In addition to that, direction needed to be given concerning the use of the classical literature - a vast body of legal materials stretching back over hundreds of years of legal development. The process of codification began with the publication of two private collections of imperial law which appeared at the end of the third century AD: the Codex Gregorianus (291 AD) and the Codex Hermogenianus (295 AD). These were followed by the Codex Theodosianus, an official codification of imperial statutes published in 438 AD. The process of codification came to an end in the middle of the sixth century AD with the great codification of the Roman law - both of juristic law and imperial enactments - under Emperor Justinian.
More on the topic The post-classical period:
- The Post-Classical Period of Roman Law
- The Post-classical Period (Late Empire or Dominate)
- 1. The typology of condictiones: classical or post-classical?
- Classical and post-classical compromissum
- The post-classical era
- Changes in post-classical law
- Post-classical compilations of ius
- Post-classical jurists and law-schools
- 10 POST-CLASSICAL LAW AND PROCEDURE
- The classical period
- The influence of Christianity on post-classical law