Corpus iuris civilis

Abstract

The most famous legal work of the ancient world was compiled at the order of the emperor Justinian (c.482–565) and issued in the period 529–34. It was intended to be a complete codification of all law, to be used as the only source of law in all the courts of the empire. The work was divided into three parts: the Codex Justinianus contained all of the extant imperial enactments from the time of Hadrian; the Digesta compiled the writings of great Roman jurists; and the Institutiones was intended as a textbook for law schools. However, Justinian later found himself obliged to create more laws, and these were published as the Novellae. This three-volume Latin edition of 1872–95, prepared by the great classical historian Theodor Mommsen (1817–1903) and his colleagues, is the culmination of centuries of palaeographical and legal studies. Volume 2 contains the Codex Justinianus.

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