The Theodosian Code

In 429 AD Emperors Theodosius II (Eastern emperor, 408-450 AD) and Valentinian III (Western emperor, 423-455 AD) entrusted a specially appointed committee with the task of updating and systematising the whole body of law (including the 'jurists law') and of producing a code that would meet the need for legal certainty in all areas of legal practice.

But this task proved too difficult to accomplish and in 435 AD another committee was set up for the purpose of collecting together, in a systematic way, all the imperial laws in force, starting with those issued in the time of Constantine. The work of codification was completed in 438 AD and the collection was published under the name Codex Theodosianus. Unlike the Gregorian and Hermogenian Codes, the Theodosian Code was an official compilation of the law which applied equally in both parts of the empire. The Code came into force on 15 February 438 AD in the East, and on 1 January 439 AD in the West. From then on, only constitutions contained in it were to be relied upon in the courts. The Theodosian Code, in the form in which it was published, was little more than an extension and continuation of the Gregorian and Hermogenian Codes upon which it was modelled and which continued to be used in the practice of law. Moreover, the Code did not affect the application of the Law of Citations of 426 AD which laid down the rules prescribing the weight of authority that was to be accorded to the works of the classical jurists.

The Theodosian Code includes over 3000 constitutions from the time of Constantine (c. 312 AD) to 438 AD. The material is arranged in sixteen books thematically, according to subject, and subdivided into titles with the constitutions in chronological order. The majority of the constitutions included in the Code are concerned with public rather than with private law. Private law is the subject of the first five books; books 6-8 are concerned with matters of constitutional and administrative law; criminal law is the focus of book 9; books 10-11 contain the law relating to public revenue; books 12-14 lay down the rules governing municipalities and corporations; book 15 includes provisions pertaining to public works and games; and book 16 contains provisions on ecclesiastical matters. The Theodosian Code effected a measure of uniformity in the administration of the law throughout the empire and served as an important vehicle for the propagation of Roman law by furnishing a model for later codifications. Most of its contents, as well as a number of imperial constitutions issued after its enactment (novellae), have been preserved through later collections, especially the Code of Justinian and the Lex Romana Visigotharum. Moreover, extensive fragments of its original text have come down to us through two manuscripts, one dating from the fifth and the other from the sixth century.^{^[1148]}

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Source: Mousourakis George. The Historical and Institutional Context of Roman Law. Routledge,2003. — 480 p.. 2003

The Theodosian Code

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