com-; 



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Authority has become more or leas doubtful, and 

 which overload the book-shelves and waste the 

 time of our lawyers and judges ; and (2) that by 

 simplifying the 'law it will be made accessible to 

 unil comprehensible by ordinary citizens. 



Viewing the subject historically, we find that 

 tin- Unmans \\--iv tin- first to realise the idea of 

 codification. The compilation of the Twelve 

 Tables (q.v.) in 303 B.C. was the earliest attempt 

 i" i-odify tin- whole law, both public and private. 

 Hut witii the Koiuans the term code was confined 

 in its application to the collections of the laws and 

 constitutions promulgated by the emperors (the im- 

 perial <>///</, iwcripta, anil </<r/r/< ), and had not the 

 extensive meaning of the word in its modern sense. 



The following is an enumeration and description 

 of the more celebrated codes, ancient and modern : 



I. ANCIENT CODES. (1) Codex Gregorianus et 

 Hi nnnij, 'ii HUIKS. These two collections of imperial 

 constitutions (mainly of rescripta) were the first 

 to receive the designation codex, and they supplied 

 a model which was to a considerable extent 

 followed in the subsequent codes of Theodosius 

 and Justinian. They Avere both the work of 

 private hands, although they were subsequently 

 declared authoritative by a decree of Theodosius 

 and Valentinian. The first of them is supposed 

 to have been published about the end of the 3d 

 century, and that of Hermogenianus a little later. 

 "Only fragments of each have been preserved. 



(2) Codex Theodosiamis, named after the Em- 

 peror Theodosius the Younger, during whose 

 reign it was compiled. The original idea of 

 Theodosius was to prepare a complete body of the 

 law, collected from the writings of the jurists as 

 well as the constitutions of the emperors, but his 

 instructions to this effect were never carried out. 

 The codex, as we have it, occupied three years in 

 preparation, and was promulgated as law for the 

 Eastern empire on 1st January 439, and a few 

 days thereafter adopted and declared to be law 

 for the Western empire by Valentinian III. This 

 Codex Theodo&ianus has been in a great measure 

 .preserved. It consists of sixteen books, which are 

 subdivided into titles, and a chronological order 

 in the arrangement of the constitutions has been 

 followed. All but the first five books (containing the 

 purely private law) have come down to us. By 

 means, however, of the so-called Breviarium Alari- 

 cianum an abridgment in great part of this code 

 made by the order of Alaric II. , king of the Visigoths 

 it became possible to reproduce a considerable 

 proportion of the earlier books. Palimpsest restora- 

 tions have also during the 19th century brought 

 to our knowledge a number of the genuine con-, 

 fititiitionen which were not to be found in the 

 breviary of Alaric. The best editions of this code 

 are those of Jac. Gothofredus, with his celebrated 

 commentary upon Books VI. to XVI., originally 

 published in 1665, and Hanel, contributed to the 

 Corpus Juris Rom. Antejustin. (Bonn, 1842). 



(3) Codex Justinianeus. Tliis, which is the 

 most celebrated of the ancient codes, was named 

 after the Emperor Justinian, in whose reign it was 

 prepared. In the year 528 A.D. a commission of 

 ten persons, with the famous Tribonian at their 

 head, was appointed by Justinian to compile a 

 code, incorporating in it the earlier codes of 

 < iregorianus, Hermogenianus, and Theodosius, and 

 also the various constitutions issued subsequent 

 to these codes. The work was performed in four- 

 teen months, and it was then declared that the 

 new code should supersede the older compilation. 

 A second edition of this work, revised ana having 

 a number of new enactments of Justinian himself 

 incorporated, was promulgated in 534 under the 

 name of the Codex repetitce prtelectionis. This is 

 what has come down to us, an- 1 is now known as 



the Codex Jwttinutncux, and f omits part of the 

 corjnu juris. It consist* of twelve books, each of 

 which is divided into chapters. 



(4) Romano-Biirlidrian Codes. Several collec- 

 tions were made of the laws of the barbarians of 

 western Euro]>c after they had become free from 

 the domination of Koine. To three of tln-- collec- 

 tions the name of the Romano- Barbarian Codes tt 

 usually applied. They are ( 1 ) the Edictum Tkeo- 

 dorici, compiled under Theodoric, king of the 

 Ostrogoths, ali-uit the year 500, and consisting of 

 154 sections ( unsystematically arranged ), dealing 

 with all departments of the law, its materials 

 being derived mainly from the Gregorian, Her- 

 mogenian, and Theodosian Codes. (2) The Lex 

 Romano, Visigothorum, prepared under Alaric, king 

 of the Visigoths, and published in the year 508. 

 This collection was one of great importance, and 

 during a considerable part of the middle ages was 

 treated as the principal exponent of Roman law, 

 thus exercising great influence upon the Gothic 

 law of western Europe. It was compiled by com- 

 missioners, appointee! by Alaric, who derived their 

 materials in great part from the Theodosian Code 

 and the institutes of Gaius. This codex is com- 

 monly described as the Breviarium Alaricianum. 

 ( 3 ) The Lex Romano, Burgundionum, also published 

 about the beginning of the 6th century, under 

 Gundobald, king of the Burgundians. It was 

 compiled from much the same sources as the code 

 of Alaric II. 



II. MODERN CODES. As already observed, the 

 idea of a code in the modern sense viz. as a com- 

 plete statement of the whole law, or any particular 

 department of it was not realised by the ancients. 

 The Roman Codex was in many respects more akin 

 to what we call a consolidated statute than a 

 proper code. 



(1 ) Prussian Code. The first of the modem codes 

 ( leaving out of view certain ordonnances of a general 

 nature promulgated at an early date in France and 

 some other countries, but which hardly deserve the 

 appellation Code) was the celebrated Landrecht of 

 Prussia the Code Frederic published in 1751. This 

 work was due to the genius of Frederick the Great, 

 and was intended by him to firmly cement the union 

 between the various parts of his kingdom. In the 

 introductory plan (or projet), Frederick tells what 

 induced him to undertake the work viz. the great 

 uncertainty in the law arising out of the want of 

 uniformity in the customs and statutes prevailing 

 in the different parts of his dominions, and the ex- 

 cessive and costly litigations due to this uncertainty. 

 He makes, at the same time, a violent onslaught 

 upon lawyers generally, and hopes that one imme- 

 diate result of the code will be to restrict their 

 number to the most moderate dimensions. Out of 

 this Code Frederic, the existing Allgemcines Land- 

 recht of Prussia has grown. 



(2) Code Napoleon. This is the most celebrated 

 of the modern codes. At the time of the great 

 Revolution there was an endless variety of par- 

 ticular laws and customs ( droit ecrit et droit cou- 

 tume) prevailing in the different parts of France, 

 entailing great uncertainty and expense in the 

 administration of justice, and preventing anything 

 like true solidity and unity in the nation. Napoleon 

 realised the necessity of the unification of the 

 local laws by a code applicable to the whole 

 country. No doubt, a good deal had been done 

 towards unification by the preparation of an ad- 

 mirable act of ordonnances in the reigns of Louis 

 XIV. and Louis XV., but they only went a small 

 way in rectifying the evils. The Constitution of 

 1791 and Projet de Code Civil of Camhaceres (q.v.) 

 partly anticipated the Code Napoleon, which, 

 elaborated in four months by a commission com- 

 prising Tronchet and three others, was published 



