The Justinian Code

The Justinian Code is considered one of the best legal system of the Roman and global law history. It was created by the Emperor Justinian I, in the 6th century, with the goal of gathering and organizing the already existing and conflicting chaotic laws. This act didn’t only build the legal system of the Byzantine Empire, but it became the base of the legal system of the Western countries.

Justinian’s goal was to reorganize the whole empire, so he deemed necessary to restore the current legal system. In 529 A.D. he ordered a committee of legal experts, with Tribonian as the head of the committee, to compile a new collection of law. This had as a result the creation of Justinianus Codex, that consisted of old laws and decrees, which got reformed in a way that the current citizens of the empire could adapt.

The Justinianus Codex wasn’t simply a review of old laws but it became part of a bigger project known as Corpus Juris Civilis. This project was separated in four parts:

1)The Justinianus Codex, which was the collection of all the imperial decrees

2)The Digesta or Pandectae, which had passages from texts that famous roman legal experts wrote

3)The Institutiones, a manual for law students and,

4)The Novellae Constitutiones, which are the new laws that were issued after 534 A.D.

The significance of the Justinian Codex is unmeasurable. Firstly it helped with the unification of the legal system of Byzantine Empire, solving many problems and also the legal confusion that prevailed. Secondly, it set the base for the development of Roman Law , that would later influence the law science in the Ottoman Empire and in Europe. Even Suleiman the Magnificent had Justinian as his role model and tried to make a legal system better than his.

During the Middle Ages, especially after the revival of legal studies in Western Europe, mainly in Bologna in the 11th century, the Corpus Juris Civilis was the main subject of studying which also influenced crucially the Civil Law, that exists till today in many European and South American countries, like Germany, France, Italy, Greece and many more European countries and Brazil, Argentina, Chile, etc from South American countries. Its codified form, systematization and its logic constitute the model of legislative organization.

Also, the Justinian Code reflects the ideological approach of that time period. Doing the right thing, was considered a mean of achieving good governance and also divine order and prosperity. Justinian didn’t only consider himself as a worldly ruler, but he was also the protector of Christianity ( Eastern Orthodox in our days). His legal work wasn’t only of a practical nature, but it had strict theological and ethical character too that guided people to act accordingly.

To conclude, the timeless influence of the Justinian Code shows the value it has as a legal and cultural achievement. Its one of the many valuable examples of ancient brilliance that we utilized in our modern society and has influenced the legal way of thinking, the education and also public administration until today. But is this really the case? Do you think that people thousand years ago had the same laws with us? Did the judicial system work the same it works now? There are many questions that still need to be answered, and our knowledge will get better by the time as we learn more things about the past.

*If you want to learn even more about the topic, a quick search on Google Scholar and other sites similar to this, will show you plenty of studies that elaborate more on this topic.