The legal code of Justinian - the code of Roman civil rights and laws

The code of Justinian was the most important body of Roman civil rights and laws. The collection was compiled in 529-534 AD. During the reign of the Byzantine emperor Justinian the Great.

Developing a meeting

In February, 528, by the edict of Vasileus Justinian I, a state commission was formed, consisting of ten people. And already on April 7, 529, the legislative code of Justinian was published. The text of this collection contained all the imperial decrees and decrees from the 1st to the 6th century AD. E. The next step of the emperor was the systematization of the so-called ancient law (jus vetus), which was the works of various Roman jurists, as well as their comments on the praetor and civil law.

December 15, 530, was issued a decree basileus on the establishment of a committee of fifteen people with the most famous Greek lawyer of the time, Triborian at the head. In addition to this scientist, the committee included two professors from the Academy of Constantinople, two professors from the Berit Academy, and eleven lawyers. The committee was tasked with writing digests - that is, isolating the necessary passages from the works of classical antique lawyers. This was done by mid-December 533.

Parallel to this work, Tribonian, Theophilus and Dorotheus prepared institutions that later became part of the code of Justinian. Institutions were a textbook for law students (he eventually had four volumes). The last part of this grand meeting was the finally edited code of laws, published in November 534.

Thus, the code of Emperor Justinian originally consisted of three voluminous parts: institutions (of four volumes), digests (consisting of fifty books that included excerpts from almost two thousand works of Roman lawyers), the code itself (twelve books). Later, after the death of Vasilev, these three main chapters were supplemented by so-called Novelles. They were written by the Constantinople professor Julian in 556 and represented a collection of decrees and decrees issued by the emperor from 535 to 556. This became the fourth part of the code.

The practical significance of the legislative assembly

The code of Justinian from the middle of the VI century and throughout the Middle Ages was the main source of law for most European countries. Part of this applies to Russia, as it has significantly affected the so-called. Pilot books - a domestic collection of secular and Orthodox laws.

In medieval Europe, the active revival and assimilation of Roman law begins. In the monarchies of the early feudal period, which were formed in the territories of the Western Roman Empire, the ancient Roman legal norms in culture and legislation were sufficiently preserved. The code of Justinian until the very end of the Middle Ages had a significant influence on the development of feudal relations in Western Europe. Moreover, it is today the actual foundation for Romano-German law.