Wednesday 10 February 2016

The codification of Roman Law (II): Other codification prior to Justinian

- Edictum Perpetuum of Salvius Julianus


A revision and arrangement of the Edicts of the Praetors and Curule Aediles was undertaken in A.D. 130 by Salvius Julianus acting on a commission from Hadrian.

Alarico II and Roman Law

- Codex Gregorianus


At the end of the third century A.D. a collection of Imperial Constitutions from Hadrian to the end of the third century A.D. was made by Gregorianus, probably at the command of Diocletian. It consisted of sixteen books, each divided into titles, containing rescripta of Septimius Severus and his successors.

- Codex Hermogenianus


A supplement to the Codex Gregorianus was issued c. A.D. 365. It consisted of constitutiones of Diocletian and Maximian.

- Codex Theodosianus


In A.D. 435 the Emperor Theodosius formed a sixteen-man commission, under the jurist Antiochus, to prepare a vast collection of constitutiones from the time of Constantine. The commission's work was published in A.D. 438 at Constantinople and, in the Western Empire, by Valentinian III. The code consists of sixteen books, each subdivided into titles in which the constitutiones are arranged chronologically. Private Law occupies the first five books and is followed by Public Law, Civil and Criminal Law, Municipal, Military and Ecclesiastical Law.

- Edictum Theodorici


Three codifications of law were made c. A.D. 500 after the Western Empire had been conquered by the barbarians. The first of these Leges Barbarorum was compiled at the command of Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths. It consisted of 154 sections devoted to Public and Private Law and was drawn from the works of the jurists (particularly Paulus) and the Codex Gregorianus, Hermogenianus and Theodosianus.

- Breviarium Alaricianum (The Breviary of Alaric), or Lex Romana Visigothorum


In A.D. 506 a commission appointed by Alaric II, King of the Western Goths, published a breviarium (= epitome) made up of selections from the Theodosian Code, the Institutes of Gaius, and the writings of Paul and Papinian.

- Lex Romana Burgundionun (Law of the Burgundians)


Published c. A.D. 517 by King Gundobald, or his son Sigismund, this code consisted of 47 titles based on the Breviary of Alaric.

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- The codification of Roman Law


+ The codification of Roman Law (I): The Twelve Tables

+ The codification of Roman Law (III): Justinian's codification of the Law

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Source:
Roman Law, L. B. Curzon, pages 22 - 23.