Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/684

Rh 670 JUSTINIANUS. the advocates, Menna, Constantinus, and Joannes. They were empowered to omit, to improve, and to add ; and, in the forma:ion of the secunda editio, or repetUa praelectio, care was taken to insert the con- stitutions of Justinian which had appeared since the first edition. It is probable that all the Fifty Decisions were incorporated, although we have not the means of precisely identifying them. On the I6th of Nov. A. D. 534, Justinian issued a consti- tution, giving legal force to the new edition of the Code, from the 29th of Dec. 534. To this new edition, in contradistirction to the former (which was now superseded and carefully suppressed), has been usually given the name Codex Repetitae Prae- lectinnis. It is now ordinarily called the Code of Justinian, although it is more correctly called Con- siiiutionum Codex, since the other collections of Justinian are also entitled to the name of Codes. The earliest constitution contained in the Code is one of Hadiian, the latest one of Justinian, dated Nov. 4., A. D. 534. The matter of constitutions older than Hadrian had been fully developed in the works of jurists. The Code is divided into 12 books, and the books into titles, with rubrics de- noting their contents. Under each title, the con- stitutions are arranged chronologically. Each constitutio is headed bv an inscription or address, and ended by a subscription announcing the place and time of its date, The general arrangement corresponds on the whole with that of the Digest, so far as the two works treat of the same subject, but there are some variations which cannot be ac- counted for. For instance, the law of pledges and the law of the father's power occupy very different relative positions in the Digest and the Code. Some constitutiones, which are referred to in the Insti- tutes, do not appear in the modern manuscripts of the Code ; and it is doubtful whether they were omitted by the compilers of the second edition, or left oat by subsequent copyists. Justinian, though fond of legal unity, was fond of law-making. If he had lived long enough, there might perhaps have been a second edition of the Digest. When the new Code was published, he contemplated the necessity of a supplement to it, and promised that any legislative reforms which he might afterwards make should be formed into a collection of Novellas ConstUtitiones. (Const. Cordi, § 4.) Many such Novells {ytapal 5iaTci|ets), with various dates, from Jan. 1. 535, to Nov. 4. 564, were published from time to time, by authority, in his life-time. The greater part were promulgated in the first five years after the publication of the new Code ; and there is a marked diminution in the number of Novells subsequent to the death of Tribonian in 545. There are extant at least 165 Novells of Justinian, making many reforms of great consequence, and seriously affecting the law as laid down in the Digest, Institutes, and Code. Though the imperial archives contained all the Novells that were issued from time to time, no collective publication by official authority seems to have taken place before Justinian's death, for Joannes Scholas- ticus, at the beginning of his collection of 87 chapters, compiled from the Novells of Justinian, between a. d. 565 and 578, speaks of those Novells as still ffTTopaSTjj/ Keifxevcai/. (Heimbach, Anecdoia, voL ii. p. 208.) Such were Justinian's legislative works — works of no mean merit — nay, with all their faults, con- sidering the circumstances of the time, worthy of JUSTINIANUS. very great praise. They have long exercised, and, pervading modem systems of law, continue to exercise, enormous influence over the thoughts and actions of men. It is true that they exhibit a certain enslavement to elements originally base, for there was much that was narrow and barbarous in the early law of Rome ; but, partly by tortuous fictions, and partly by bolder reform, the Roman jurisprudence of later times struggled to arrive at better and more rational rules. The Digest is especially precious, as preserving the remains of jurists whose Avorks would otherwise have been wholly lost, notwithstanding their great value as illustrations of history, as materials for thinking, and as models of legal reasoning and expression. If adherence to the contents of the imperial law during the middle ages cramped on the one hand the spontaneity of indigenous development, it op- posed barriers on the other to the progress of feudal barbarism. We proceed now to give some account of the literary history, and to mention the principal edi- tions, separate and collective, of Justinian's com- pilations. The editions up to the end of the first third of the 16th century are scarce, for, from the inconvenience of their form, and the variety of con- tractions they employ, they have been subjected to the same fate with the early manuscripts : but, like the early manuscripts, they are often of use in cor- recting the text. The first printed edition of the Institutes is that of Petrus Schoyffer, fol. Mogunt. 1468. The last edition of importance is that of Schrader, 4to. Berlin, 1832. This is an exceedingly learned and elaborate performance, and is intended to form part of an intended Berlin Corpus Juris Civilis, which is still promised, but has hitherto made no further visible progress. Among the exegetical commenta- tors, Vinnius, a Costa, and Otto, will be found the most useful. The Institutiones cum Commentario Academico^ by Vinnius, first appeared 4to, Amst. 1642, and has been frequently reprinted. The Elzevir Vinnius of 1665 is, typographically, ihe neatest ; but the jurist will prefer those editions which are enriched with the notes of Heineccius, and contain the Quaestiones Selectae of Vinnius. (2 vols. 4to. Lugd. 1747, 1755, 1761, 1767, 1777.) The Commentarius ad Institutiones of a Costa (Jean de la Coste) first appeared, 4 to. Paris, 1659; but the best editions are those of Van de Water (4to. Ultraj. 1714), and RUcker (4to. Lugd. 1744 ). The Commentarius et. Notae Criiicae of Everard Otto first appeared 4to. Traj. ad Rhen. 1729 ; and the best edition is that of Iselin(4to. Basil. 1760). The commentaries of Balduinus (fol. Paris, 1546), Hotomann (Basil. 1560, 1569, Lugd. 1588), Gi- phanius (4to. Ingols. 1596, &c.), Bachovius (4to. Frank, 1628, 1661, &c.), Merillius (4to. Paris, 1654, Traj. ad Rhen. 1739), and Hoppius (Dantz. 1693, &c. ; and edited by Wdchius, 4to. Frank, ad Moen. 1772), also deserve mention. There are modern French commentaries and translations by Blondeau, Ducaurroy, Ortolan, and Etienne ; and there is an English translation, with the Latin text and notes, by George Harris, LL.D. (4 to. London, 1796, 1812.) We regard the Greek Paraphrasis of Theophilus as the most useful of all commentaries, but the original work is so clear as seldom to require voluminous explanation ; and not without reason was an Essay, as long ago as the first year of the 1 8th century, composed by Horn-