Page:The Classical Heritage of the Middle Ages.djvu/83

 IV] TRANSMISSION OF THE ROMAN LAW 05 The decadent or barbaric use of a highly developed system of law seems to be marked by the composition and use of epitomes and compilations of extracts. This is analogous to the way in which decadent and barbai-ic periods adapt to their use the culture of the past. The Theodosian code and the legislation of Justinian compiled and codified the existing law, which the fifth and sixth centuries found difficulty in understanding and applying.^ It is noteworthy how these compilations were used by the barbari- ans and in the succeeding semi-barbarous centuries. The Breviarium of Alaric II was practically an epit- ome or compilation of excerpts from the Theodosian code. But the Breviarium was itself the code which maintained its preeminence as the vehicle of Roman law in France and elsewhere. It likewise was abridged and was used in epitomes more than in its original form.* The legislation of Justinian was also chiefly used, from the seventh to the eleventh centuries, through epitomes and compilations of extracts. In France, where it was never promulgated, and where it therefore re- mained foreign law, it was well-nigh exclusively known and used in these abbreviated forms, and even in Italy the use of such works was more general than the use of the original texts.' 1 Of coarse, this is the usual function of codification. The spirit and ability with which the particular codification is accomplished determines whether it is to be regarded as a work of decadence from the standard of previous legal attainment. A code may in Iteelf be an advance. « See for these epitomes, Conrat (Cohn), op. cit, pp. 223-340. the Brachyloffus, and the Petri prceptiones ler/um Romanomrn may be mentioned as in use in both Franco and Italy. V
 * Among these compilations and epitomes, the Summa Perusina,