The Theodosian Code
The Codex Theodosianus consisted of a body of around twenty-five hundred imperial constitutions created from 306 to 437, or from Constantine to the Eastern emperor Theodosius II (r.
408-50), who promulgated the code in 438. It took effect in the eastern part of the empire on January 1, 439. A little later, the code was also published and took effect in the Western Roman Empire under Emperor Valentinian III (r. 425-55). The code was acclaimed by the Senates of both Constantinople and Rome.Theodosius II intended to harmonize the law in both parts of the empire, eliminating forgeries, reducing the bulk of laws, and providing an elegant, clear, and well-adjusted corpus iuris for the use of legal actors and practitioners. In 429, he set up an initial commission in Constantinople to collect the general imperial constitutions from Constantine up until then, put them
Sources of Roman law 59 in chronological order under headings, and shorten them so that only the operative parts remained (C.Th. 1.1.5). The commission also had the ambitious task of gathering related jurisprudential sources, but this did not happen. After this first stage was completed, in December 435, Theodosius charged a new and enlarged commission (C.Th. 1.5.6) with editing the material and completing the work. The emperor authorized the commission to make additions, emendations, and alterations. All original imperial constitutions lost validity after the publication of the code. The leader of both commissions and chief architect of the Theodosian Code was the high official (quaestor, praetorian prefect, and consul) Antiochus Chuzon, a lawyer from Antioch. When the code was promulgated, he was praised as “extraordinary in all things” (cuncta sublimis, Nov. Th. 1.39).
The Theodosian Code was written in Latin and consisted of sixteen books divided into titles according to subject matter.
Each constitution contained an inscription with the name(s) of the emperor(s) who enacted it and the addressee, the text of the constitution, and a subscript at the end with the place and date of the enactment. Some constitutions were divided and located under different sections of the code. The date of each constitution was important for resolving conflicts between laws, as a later constitution prevailed over an earlier one. Theodosius and succeeding emperors continued to legislate by promulgating new imperial constitutions, also called novels (novellae constitutiones). The last novel was a constitution by Emperors Leo and Anthemius in 468.The Theodosian Code was in force in the East until Justinian abolished it with the first edition of his code in April 529. Justinian included much of the content of the Theodosian Code in his own code. In the West, a large extract of the Theodosian Code was included in the Lex Romana Visigothorum or Breviary of Alaric (506). This was a collection of Roman law ordered by Alaric II, king of the Visigoths, and applied to the Hispano-Roman and Gallo-Roman populations.
Books 6-16 of the Theodosian Code survive more or less intact; the recovery of the first five books was possible through combining the extract of the Breviary of Alaric, which provided the skeleton of the legal body, and Justinian’s Code, which provided the content of the laws. Theodor Mommsen made the best edition of the Theodosian Code (Berlin, 1905). Years later, Paul Krüger again edited the first eight books (Berlin, 1923 and 1926). Clyde Pharr translated the Theodosian Code into English (1952).
More on the topic The Theodosian Code:
- The Theodosian Code
- The Theodosian Code
- The Code
- The Code
- The First Code
- Justinian’s Code
- The Second Code
- DELICT AND THE FRENCH CODE
- POTHIER AND THE FRENCH CIVIL CODE
- ORIGIN AND APPLICATION OF ART. 1384 CODE CIVIL
- The Code, the Courts, and the Law Prior to Codification