Phone: 1-800-453-7461
Fax: 239-631-2259

NPRInc Blog
The Educator's Choice for Classroom and Professional Development Resources

Why Was Justinian`s Unification of the Legal Code Important

Roman law formed the basis of civil law used today in continental Europe and throughout Latin America. The common law, the other important legal body used in the world, developed in British courts in the Middle Ages and later spread to the United States and Commonwealth member states. It was a definitive edition of the accumulated centuries of Roman precedents and ways of thinking, consisting of both real laws and legal analyses by eminent jurists. With more than 100 volumes, this compilation of Roman law has survived and become the direct source of many of the world`s current legal systems and has exerted a profound influence on others. This law became particularly influential in the great faculty of law founded in Bologna in the Middle Ages. As glorious as the meeting of Justinian may have seemed at the time, and as remarkable as it was, like many similar conquests, it would be both short-lived and relatively inconsequential in its lasting effects. The corpus forms the basis of Latin jurisprudence (including canon law) and provides historians with valuable insight into the concerns and activities of the later Roman Empire. As a compendium, it brings together the many sources in which laws and other rules have been expressed or published (ordinary laws, senatorial consultations, imperial decrees, case law, and opinions and interpretations of jurists). It formed the basis of later Byzantine law, as expressed in the Basilica of Basil I and Leo VI.dem of the Magi. The only western province where the Justinian Codex was introduced was Italy, from where it was incorporated in the 12th century. It has become the basis of many European legal systems.

He eventually went to Eastern Europe, where he appeared in Slavic editions, and he also went to Russia. Although England departed from it because of the development of English common law, much of its terminology and structure was nevertheless derived from Roman law. In the long run, the single, most profound and influential effect of the Roman world on the modern world may well lie in the field of law, where the Codex of Justinian laid the foundations for almost all modern legal systems. Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, he sought to revive the greatness of the empire and recover the lost western half of the historic Roman Empire; It has also promulgated important pieces of legislation. It was not commonly used in the early Middle Ages. After the early Middle Ages, interest in her was revived. It was “received” or imitated as a private right, and its public law content was dismantled for the arguments of secular and ecclesiastical authorities. Resurrected Roman law, in turn, became the basis of law in all civil jurisdictions.

The provisions of the Corpus Juris Civilis have also influenced the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church; It has been said that ecclesia vivit lege romana – the Church lives according to Roman law. Its influence on common law legal systems has been much less, although some basic concepts of the corpus have survived through Norman law – such as the contrast, particularly in institutions, between “law” (status) and custom. The Corpus continues to have a major influence on international law. Its four parts thus form the founding documents of the Western legal tradition. The Code of Roman Law formed the basis of the legal systems that developed in Europe, and then, during the era of colonialism, its influence spread to much of the rest of the world. Thus, countries as diverse as Germany, Argentina and Japan use legal systems derived directly or indirectly from Roman law. Although the Code of Justinian is not a new legal code per se, it has rationalized hundreds of years of existing Roman laws. Contradictions and conflicts have been eliminated and all existing laws not contained therein have been repealed. Later laws, written by Justinian himself, were compiled in the Novellae Constitutiones Post Codicem. Despite his connections with the former emperor, Justinian was something foreign among the aristocrats of Constantinople, and he appointed a number of people to important positions based more on energy and skills than on family relationships.

This gave him a core of talented subordinates who were able to carry out his ambitious plans. But at the same time, he also won the enmity of the old aristocracy. This code summarized in Latin all the imperial constitutions that existed (imperial declarations with the force of law) up to the time of Hadrian. He used both the Codex Theodosianus and the fourth-century collections contained in the Codex Gregorianus and the Codex Hermogenianus, which served as a model for the division into books divided into titles. These codices had acquired an authoritarian status. Justinian was one of the most important emperors of the Byzantine Empire. He is known for rebuilding Constantinople after the Nika riots caused great damage to the city. He is also the emperor who commissioned the construction of Hagia Sophia, which is still considered one of the greatest architectural wonders. And probably Justinian`s greatest influence on modernity is the Roman Code of Law, which was compiled during his reign and is now the basis of most legal systems around the world.

“Justinian`s Corpus Juris Civilis spread in the West, but lost sight of; it was hardly necessary in the relatively primitive conditions after Italy`s secession from the Byzantine Empire in the 8th century. The only western province where the Code of Justinian was actually introduced was Italy after its reconquest by Byzantine armies (Pragmatic Sanction of 554), but a continuous tradition of Roman law in medieval Italy has not been proven. Historians disagree on exactly how it was recovered in northern Italy around 1070: perhaps it waited unnecessarily and unnoticed in a library until legal studies conducted on behalf of the central papal authority of Pope Gregory VII`s Gregorian reform led to its accidental rediscovery. Outside the Littera Florentina, a 6th century pandect codex. Preserved in Pisa without ever having been publicly consulted (and brought to Florence after the conquest of Pisa by Florence in 1406), there may have been other manuscript sources for the text taught in Bologna by Pepo and then by Irnerius. His technique was to read aloud a passage that allowed his students to copy it, and then provide a digression that explained and illuminated Justinian`s text in the form of glosses. Irnerius` pupils, the four doctors of Bologna, were among the first of the “glossators” who established the curriculum of Roman law. The tradition was continued in the 13th century by French lawyers, the so-called Ultramontani.

Code of Justinian, Codex Justinianus, formerly Corpus Juris Civilis (“Corpus of Civil Law”), collections of laws and legal interpretations developed under the patronage of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I from 529 to 565 CE. Strictly speaking, the works were not a new code. On the contrary, Justinian`s legal committees essentially provided two reference works containing collections of past laws and extracts from the opinions of the great Roman jurists. There was also a basic overview of the Law and a collection of Justinian`s new laws. The Justinian Codex consists of four books: (1) Codex Constitutionum, (2) Digesta, . (100 out of 379 words) Since the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. Considering that the program contradicted Christian teachings, he closed the last surviving classical school in Athens, making Constantinople the capital of Greek culture. He also appointed a commission of scholars to codify 2,000 volumes of legal works, some of which are about 1,000 years old. In a series of campaigns against various Gothic groups, Belisarius managed to reconquer most of Italy, including Rome itself. Other generals recaptured parts of Spain, and for a short time Justinian`s Roman Empire approached its former unified size. This was simply due in part to the fact that she appears to have been an intelligent and strong-willed woman who played an active role in government and was a key advisor and aide to Justinian. The Byzantine emperor Justinian I gained lasting fame.

by its judicial reforms, in particular by the total revision of the whole of Roman law, which had not been attempted before.

« Why Is Legal and General Transferring to Fidelity Wilson Elser Legal Staff Assistant »