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 scripts 482 THE DECLINE AND FALL [Chap, xliv and the purest materials of the Code and Pandects are inscribed with the names of Caracalla and his ministers. 44 The tyrant of Rome was sometimes the benefactor of the provinces. A dagger terminated the crimes of Domitian ; but the prudence of Nerva confirmed his acts, which, in the joy of their deliver- ance, had been rescinded by an indignant senate. 45 Yet in the Their re- rescripts, 46 replies to the consultations of the magistrates, the wisest of princes might be deceived by a partial exposition of the case. And this abuse, which placed their hasty decisions on the same level with mature and deliberate acts of legislation, was ineffectually condemned by the sense and example of Trajan. The rescripts of the emperor, his grants and decrees, his edicts and pragmatic sanctions, were subscribed in purple ink, 47 and transmitted to the provinces as general or special laws, which the magistrates were bound to execute, and the people to obey. But, as their number continually multiplied, the rule of obedi- ence became each day more doubtful and obscure, till the will of the sovereign was fixed and ascertained in the Gregorian, the Hermogenian, and the Theodosian codes. The two first, of which some fragments have escaped, were framed by two private lawyers, to preserve the constitutions of the Pagan emperors from Hadrian to Constantine. The third, which is still extant, was digested in sixteen books by the order of the younger Theodosius, to consecrate the laws of the Christian princes from Constantine to his own reign. But the three codes obtained an equal authority in the tribunals ; and any act which was not included in the sacred deposit might be disregarded by the judge as spurious or obsolete. 48 44 Of Antoninus Caracalla alone 200 constitutions are extant in the Code, and with his father 160. These two princes are quoted fifty times in the Pandects and eight in the Institutes (Terrasson, p. 265). 45 Plin. Secund. Epistol. x. 66. Sueton. in Domitian. c. 23. 46 It was a maxim of Constantine, contra jus rescripta non valeant (Cod. Theodos. 1. i. tit. ii. leg. 1). The emperors reluctantly allow some scrutiny into the law and the fact, some delay, petition, &c. ; but these insufficient remedies are too much in the discretion and at the peril of the judge. [The Imperial rescripts were replies, giving direction to the magistrates, or parties to a suit, who " consulted " the emperor. When addressed to corporate bodies, provinces, &c. they were called Pragmatic Sanctions.] 47 A compound of Vermillion and cinnabar, which marks the Imperial diplomas from Leo I. (a.d. 470) to the fall of the Greek empire (Bibliotheque Raisonnee de la Diplomatique, torn. i. p. 509-514. Lami, de Eruditione Apostolorum, torn. ii. p. 720-726). 48 Schulting, Jurisprudentia Ante-Justinianea, p. 681-718. Cujacius assigned to Gregory the reigns from Hadrian to Gallienus, and the continuation to hiB fellow-