The Evolution of Roman Law Sources: From Leges to Justinian

Sources of Roman Law: Iura and Leges

Leges: Imperial Constitutions

The term Lex refers to the imperial will and rules. It was considered the only living source of Derecho (law) after other sources had been exhausted.

Classes of Laws:

• General Laws (including orationes edictales ad senatum)
• Special Laws (Rescripta and Adnotationes)
• Pragmatic Sanctions (an intermediate genre)

Iura: The Right of Jurists

Iura refers to the right derived from lawyers' opinions, encompassing the entire mass of earlier right enshrined in legal literature.

The Crisis of Legal Sources (3rd and 4th Centuries AD)

• Mid-3rd Century AD: Corruption of legal literature.
• 4th Century AD: Rise of Derecho Vulgar (Vulgar Law) in provincial courts.

This period was marked by a chaotic situation regarding legal sources: a disorderly crowd of scattered and sometimes contradictory provisions, causing uncertainty about the force of the law.

Pre-Justinian Compilations

Compilations of Leges (Imperial Constitutions)

• Codex Gregorianus
• Codex Hermogenianus (Both were private compilations.)
• Codex Theodosianus (The most important: 16 books, ordered by titles and chronologically.)
• Novellae Posttheodosianae (Compilations of new laws created after the Theodosian Code.)

Compilations of Iura (Jurists' Writings)

• Act of Citations (The most important: a constitution of Valentinian III, c. 426, which recognizes the authority of Gaius, Paul, Ulpian, Modestinus, and Papinian.)
• Epitome Gai (A summary of Gaius's work.)

Mixed Compilations (Leges and Iura)

• Vatican Fragments
• Collatio Mosaicorum et Romanorum Legum
• Scholia Sinaitica

Vulgar Law Compilations in the West

• Lex Romana Theodorici
• Lex Edictum Burgundiorum
• Lex Romana Visigothorum (The most important, arising from the Visigothic monarchy.)

Justinian's Codification (528–534 AD)

Components of the Corpus Juris Civilis

• Codex of Justinian
• Digestum or Pandects
• Institutiones

Purpose and Method

The primary purpose was to gather iura and leges into a single legal body without confusion or mixing, addressing the juridical insecurity prevalent in the empire at the time.

Justinian aimed to respect the classical tradition as much as possible, but also to resolve contradictions (through interpolations) to facilitate effective application of the law.

Significance of Justinian's Codification

This legal work is arguably the most important of all time, not only for its immediate impact but for its subsequent significance. Its study, starting in Italian universities in the 12th century, profoundly marked the course of legal developments in Continental Europe.