Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 2).djvu/372

 absence of one or more of which repudiation of the nuptial tie by either husband or wife would be legally insufficient. From the moment of his accession Justinian began to elaborate legislation of this kind, and in 541 went so far as to forbid the dissolution of marriage by mutual consent, a right with which no previous emperor had ventured to interfere. The restriction, however, was probably inoperative and highly unpopular, and one of the first acts of his successor was the repeal of the obnoxious measure.

The difficulties which in this age beset the practice of the law courts, owing to the confused condition of legal literature and the consequent absence of attainable information, on forensic questions, has already been adverted to. The pressing need of rescuing the elements of jurisprudence from the two thousand volumes in which they were entombed had been felt by previous emperors, but, if they apprehended the possibility of executing it, they shrunk from the magnitude of the task. No sooner, however, was Justinian seated on the throne than he engaged in this enterprise and nominated a commission of ten jurists to prepare a code in which all extant and effective Acts of various emperors should be repeated and arranged in lucid order. Tribonian was included among these commissioners, as an adjurant rather than as a principal, but during the execution of the work it is certain that he proved himself to be the master spirit of the undertaking. The materials which had to be manipulated consisted of the Theodosian Code, in sixteen books, com-*