LAW
88
&4W
books of the Institutes, the fifty books of the Digest,
the twelve books of the Code, and the Novels. Early
editions divide the Pandects into three parts, the
pigestum vetus, the Infortiatum, and the Digestum
novum. The labours of Justinian have come down
to us in the form of texts of the' so-called glossators
during the Middle Ages. The glossators worked from
earlier manuscripts and harmonized conflicting texts
into a generally accepted lectio vulgata (** vulgate ", or
- * common reading "). We have one text known as the
"Florentine Pandects" which dates from the seventh century, one hundred years after Justinian. It is, however, in all probability, only one of the texts from which the glossators worked, and, when the errors of copyists are considered, its antiouity should not en- title it to overrule the vulgate. This Florentine text is the subject of legend, ana the revival of the study of Roman law has been attributed to its discovery. Saviffny and others have demonstrated that the i-e- vivalwas well under way before the discovery of this codex. The publication of a photographic reproduc- tion of the Florentine Pandects was b^un at Rome in 1902, and seven of the ten parts are alreafly at hand.
In what had been the Western Empire, Justinian no longer held sway at the date of the promulgation of his laws; the subject race were, however, permitted by their barbarian conquerors to retain the pre-Justinian law as their personal law. The conquerors themselves caused to be made the several compilations known as the " Roman Barbarian Codes " (see Lex). Justinian did, however, effect the reconquest of Italy, and held it long enough to promulgate his laws. Wnen the Os- trogoths agam became masters they left the legislation of Justinian undisturbed, and it flourished m a less corrupted form than in the Eastern Empire, which was its logical field. The Roman law of Justinian superseded the barbarian codes and, with the revival, was taught in the medieval schools and thus spread all over Europe.
B. Subsequent Influence, — In the Eastern Empire subsequent changes are of interest to the historian rather than to the jurist. There was a lull of nearly three centuries after the death of Justinian, until Leo the Philosopher revised the legislation and published what is known as the "Basilica". While Byzantine materials throw many side lights upon the Roman legal system, they are relatively unimportant, though they were of service to the Humanists. The Eastern law schools only (Constantinople and Berytus) were subject to Justinian at the time of his constitution on legal education, yet he speaks of Rome as a royal city and prohibits the teachmg of law elsewhere than in these three cities (Ortolan). Professors of law had been active in all of his reforms: Tribonian was a pro- fessor of law and an able, but venal, jurist, whose career had much resemblance with that of Bacon. Theophilus was also a professor of law who, like Tri- bonian, had taken part in the work of Justinian, and he coiiiposcd a paraphrase of the Institutes in Greek. A number of commentaries in Greek were produced and an abridgment of the Novels. The greater part of the Byzantine writings were from secondary sources and are abridgments, condensations, manuals, etc. Among others were the " Enchiridium" of Isaurian law, the "Prochiron" of Basil, and the revision en- titled "Epanagoge"; and the revised Basilica from A. D. 906 to A. D. 911. In the composition of these collections it is highly probable that the sources were secondary and that the originals of Justinian were not directly consulted. The Basilica through its scholia or annotations grew so bulky that a synopsis of it was made, and this continued in high repute until the fall of the empire, in 1453, when the Greek legal authori- ties were supplanted by the Mohanmiedan Koran. Enough of personal law was suffered to the vanouished by the conqueror to constitute the historic element and principal basis of Greek civil law (Ortolan, Morey).
Greek fugitives also carried over with them into Italy
and elsewhere the relics of their law, and many manur
scripts are still extant: of these the Humanist Cujas
possessed a valuable library. Thus, the Greek texts,
while of little value to the glossators, were yet a po-
tent factor in the second renaissance of Roman law in
the sixteenth century. This was of service to the
historical and philological school, the inspirations and
traditions of which are still active in modern scholar-
ship, particularly that of Germany, where, as Mon-
treuil wrote fifty years ago, the French school is re-
found in the labours of Reitz, Ruhneken, Biener,
Witte, Heimbach, and Zacharia.
The most flourishing school of law following the first revival of Roman law was that of Bologna, to- wards the end of the eleventh century. Its founder was Imerius, and he was the first of the glossators. Placentinus and Vacarius were others of the glossators. Vacarius was a Lombard, and he it was who carried the texts of Justinian to England and foimded a law school at Oxford, about the middle of the twelfth cen- tury. The glossators known as the four doctors all be- longed to Bologna; and that school accjuired a reputa- tion in civil law equal to that of Paris m theology and canon law. So attractive was the Roman law that the clergy had to be restrained from its study, and the study of canon law stimulated by a decretal in 1220 (Morey), The early Church had been governed by councils, synods, etc. Collections had t^en made in the fifth and sixth centiuies, but it was only in the ninth c&ntuiy that a real collection of ecclesiastical legal documents was made. There began to be col- lections of decrees of the popes, and the revival of Roman law at Bologna in the twelfth century gave impetus to a systematic canon law. About 1130 Gratian, a Benedictine monk, made the compilation which developed into the "Corpus Juris Canonici'\ The external similarity of this compilation to the "Corpus Juris Civilis" is thus ^ven by Duck: "The Roman pontiffs effected that m the Church which Justinian effected in the Roman Empire. They caused Gratian's Decree to be published m imitation of the Pandects; the Decretals in imitation of the Code; the Clementine Constitutions and the Extra va- gantes in imitation of the Novels; and to complete the work Paul IV ordered Launcellot to prepare Institutes which were published at Rome imaer Gregory XIII, and added to the Corpus Juris Canonici/' (In quali- fication of this, see CV)rpu8 Juris Canonici. )
To return to the Roman law, the school of the glossators (of whom Accursius in the middle of the thirteenth century was the last) was succeeded by the school of which Bartolus of Sasso Ferrato and Al- ciat were representatives. From 1340 ihe Bartolists flourished for two hundred and fifty years, to be suc- ceeded in turn by the Humanist school, of which Cujas was the chief ornament. Until the sixteenth century Roman law was most cultivated in Italy; its glory then passed to France, and, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, though there were con- spicuous Dutch jurists of great ability in the applica- tion of the law, it may fairly be said to belong to Ger- many during that period. France, Italy, Belgimn, and even England, however, are awakening in the dawn of the twentieth century.
The siu-vival of Roman-law principles was in great measure due to the principle of personality. The Roman-Greek law had not oeen entirely supplanted by the Koran in the Moslem states, such as Egypt and Syria (Amos). In modern Egypt there has been a reaffirmation of many Roman principles in the Civil Code proposed by the international commission which "harmonized the rules of Arabic jurisprudence which were not repugnant to European legislation, with the chief provisions of the Code Napoleon ". An interesting Syrian text has been edited by Bruns (Sjrrisch* Rdmisches Rechtsbuch aus dem 15. Jahrhundert).
