Corpus iuris civilis

This three-volume Latin edition of the law code originally compiled for the emperor Justinian was published between 1872 and 1895.

Paul Krueger (Edited by)

9781108071260, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 17 April 2014

534 pages
25.4 x 17.8 x 2.7 cm, 0.92 kg

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.

Index titulorum
Codex Iustinianus
Appendices.

Subject Areas: Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA]