Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/283

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRI'.. 265 the province where he was born^; and to prohibit the CHAP, governor or his son from contracting marriage with a ' native or an inhabitant"; or from purchasing slaves, lands, or houses, within the extent of his jurisdiction^ Notwithstanding these rigorous precautions, the em- peror Constantine, after a reign of twenty-five years, still deplores the venal and oppressive administration of justice; and expresses the warmest hidignution that the audience of the judge, his despatch of business, his seasonable delays, and his final sentence, were pub- licly sold, either by himself or by the officers of his court. The continuance, and perhaps the impunity, of these crimes, is attested by the repetition of impo- tent laws, and ineffectual menaces^. All the civil magistrates were drawn from the pro- The pmfes- fession of the law. The celebrated Institutes of Justi- j^"^" "' ' '*^ nian are addressed to the youth of his dominions who had devoted themselves to the study of Roman juris- prudence; and the sovereign condescends to animate their diligence, by the assurance that their skill and ability would in time be rewarded by an adequate share in the government of the republic"'. The rudiments of this lucrative science were taught in all the consi- derable cities of the east and west ; but the most fa- mittatur. Cod. Justinian. 1. i. tit. xli. Tiiis law was first enacted by the emperoi- Marcus, after the rebellion of Cassius : Dion. 1. Ixxi. The same regulation is observed in China, with equal strictness and with equal effect. a Pandect. 1. xxiii. tit. ii. n. 38. 57. 63. ^ Injure continetur, ne quis in administratione constitutus aliquid com- pararet. Cod. Theod. 1. viii. tit. xv. leg. 1. This maxim of common law was enforced by a series of edicts (see the remainder of the title ) from Con- stantine to Justin. From this prohibition, which is extended to the mean- est otHcers of the governor, they except only clothes and provisions. The purchase within five years may be recovered ; after which, on information, it devolves to the treasury. <= Cessent rapaces jam nunc officialium manus; cessent, inqiiam ; nam si moniti non cessaverint, gladiis praecidentur, etc. Cod. Theod. 1. i. tit. vii. leg. I. Zeno enacted, that all governors should remain in the province, to answer any accusations, fifty days after the expiration of their power. Cod. Justinian. 1. ii. tit. xlix. leg. 1. «• Summa igitur ope, et alacri studio has leges nostras accipite ; et vos- metipsos sic eruditos ostendite, ut spes vos pulcherrima foveat ; toto legi- time opere perfecto, posse etiam nostram rempublicarn in parlibus ejus vobis credendis gubernari. Justinian in prooem. Instilutionum.
 * Ut nuUi patriae suae administratio sine speciali principis permissu per-