The Justinian Code
Can you imagine becoming king of an empire and your kingdom was in utter chaos?
That was how it was for Justinian I. When he came to power in the year 527 the Byzantine Empire was having a very hard time. Half of its land was taken from barbarians, and the laws were a mess.
Flavius Justinianus or more commonly known as Emperor Justinian was born in 485, in North Macedonia. He was born poor and did not have any relations who held any high positions except for his uncle, Justin. His uncle held a very high military command. Justin became emperor in 518. Justinian was Justin’s favorite nephew and ended up being a big influence on him. Justin, being childless, adopted Justinian to be his heir. Then in 527, Justinian became Justinian I, Emperor of The Byzantine Empire because of his uncle’s death on August 1, 527. He made his queen Theodora. She was a dancer and everyone in his court was very surprised Justinian picked her to be his wife instead of a famous princess.
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When Justinian became Emperor in 527, the Byzantine Empire was in chaos. There were not many great laws at the time, and the empire had a very weak foundation. The only laws they had were not strongly enforced and some were just to make those in power to stay powerful. They were many heretics promoting paganism. They were teaching paganism at schools.
The Byzantine Empire had lost half of its kingdom. Another problem with the laws are that they were not really written. That made it very easy for one to change them which also causes a lot of inconsistencies with the laws. Looking to fix the problems with the laws, Justinian created the Justinian Code or the Codex Justinianus in Latin.
The Justinian code is a set of laws that got his empire back together. It also has some laws that are used today, some that were taken directly from the Justinian code or some that originated from them. The Justinian code consists of 4 main parts. The Codex Constitutionum, the Digesta, the Institutiones, and last but not least the Novellae Constitutiones Post Codicem. They each are their own part of the Justinian Code.
The Codex Constitutionum is also known as the Codex Justinianus or just the Codex. The Codex Constitutionum is a collection of 12 books. These 12 books contained 4,562 imperial edicts. An imperial edict is a method used by emperors to promote or give orders to their ministers and officials. Surprisingly, the Codex Constitutionum talks very lightly on the topic of religion. For example, it touches on the fact of Catholicism spreading. It was finished and issued in the year 529.
The Digesta has many names. It is also called the Pandectae, the Pandects, and the Digest. This is used for those who are making claims or filing lawsuits. It can also be used by those who are trying to defend themselves in court against a claim. The Digesta was also made to be used for practicing judges. At first, the Digesta consisted of 1,500 books but it was cut down to 50 books. The Digesta is very organized, each book is very specific of its subject. The final work, which consisted of 50 books, was published in December in the year 533.
The Institutiones, or also known as the Institutes, is the third part of the Justinian code. It was technically a very short version of the Digesta and the Codex Constitutionum. It was not for actual lawyers, it was for students. It was like as textbook or handbook focusing directly on both the Digesta and the Codex Constitutionum. It was used by law students to understand the laws and apply them more accurately. So in short, the Institutiones is a student law book for future great lawyers. Like the Digesta, it was also published and issued in the year 533, during December.
The last part of the Justinian Code is the Novellae Constitutiones Post Codicem. It is also called the Novellae Constitutiones, or just the Novels, which means new laws. The Novellae Constitutiones Post Codicem is a collection of every imperial edict, which are orders to his ministers and officials between the years 534 and 565. It is used to keep all of his imperial edict between the years 534 and 565 in order, written down, and ready to referenced. Another thing that the Novellae Constitutiones focuses on are a lot are the social adjustments the Byzantine society went through during Justinian's rule. The Novellae Constitutiones really addressed the laws concerning the rights of slaves, children, and women. Thanks to the Novellae Constitutiones the laws of slaves, children, and women really improved.
Then here are some overall neat facts of the Justinian Code. It is one of the first places where the law didn't have the “ guilty unless proven innocent “ rule, which was very common during the time of the making of the Justinian Code. Instead, it taught the “ Innocent until proven guilty” law. That was a real amazing turn in law at the time and it made things much more fair for the accused. Many of the laws of the Justinian Code can be found in the modern American law book. Many of the laws we know today came directly from or originated from the Justinian Code. The Justinian Code was a real turn around for the Byzantine Empire. Ancient civilizations also adapted laws from the Justinian Code. In the end, Justinian the I was a great emperor, he restored half his empire and created the famous Justinian Code.
Next time you are at court, whatever law you use to defend yourself, or accuse one of breaking it, or even being accused of breaking, it might have been created by an ancient Byzantine Emperor over 1,000 years ago.
Sources
- Source 1- https://www.ancient.eu/Corpus_Juris_Civilis/
- Source 2- https://www.britannica.com/topic/Code-of-Justinian
- Source 3- https://www.britannicas.com/biography/Justinian-1
- Source 4- https://www.penfield.edu/webpages/jgiotto/onlinetextbook.cfm?subpage=167958
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