tical with aequitas conceived (after Celsus's famous phrase) as the ars boni et aequi.
The Roman law proper, the jus civile, had multifarious sources. First the leges, enacted by the people; then the plebiscita, sanctioned by the Plebs; the senatus consulta, passed by the Senate; the constitutiones and rescripta[1] principum, ordained by the Emperor. Excepting the rescripta, these (to cover them with a modern expression) were statutory. They were laws announced at a specific time to meet some definite exigency. Under the Empire, the constitutiones principum became the most important, and then practically the only kind of legal enactment.
Two or three other sources of Roman law remain for mention: first, the edicta of those judicial magistrates, especially the praetors, who had the authority to issue them. In his edict the praetor announced what he held to be the law and how he would apply it. The edict of each successive praetor was a renewal and expansion or modification of that of his predecessor. Papinian calls this source of law the "jus praetorium, which the praetors have introduced to aid, supplement, or correct the jus civile for the sake of public utility."
Next, the responsa or auctoritas jurisprudentium, by which were intended the judicial decisions and the authority of the legal writings of the famous jurisconsults. Imperial rescripts recognized these responsa as authoritative for the Roman courts; and some of the emperors embodied portions of them in formally promulgated collections, thereby giving them the force of law. Justinian's Digest is the great example of this method of codification.[2] One need scarcely add that the authoritative writings and responsa of the jurisconsults extended and applied the jus gentium, that is to say, the rules and principles of the best-considered jurisprudence, freed so far as might be from
- ↑ Constitutio is the more general term, embracing whatever the emperor announces in writing as a law. The term rescript properly applies to the emperor's written answers to questions addressed to him by magistrates, and to the decisions of his Auditory rendered in his name.
- ↑ For this whole matter, see vol. i. of Savigny's System des heutigen romischen Rechts; Gaius, Institutes, the opening paragraphs; and the first two chapters of the first Book of Justinian's Digest.
