818 DE AUGMENTIS SCIENTIARUM 



APHORISMUS 62. 



Verum in hujusmodi Legum Regeneratione atque structura 

 nova, veterum legum atque librorum legis verba prorsus et 

 textum retineto; licet per centones et portiones exiguas eas 

 excerpere necesse fuerit: Ea deinde ordine contexito. Etsi 

 enim fortasse commodius atque etiam, si ad rectam rationem 

 respicias, melius hoc transigi posset per textum novum quam 

 per hujusmodi consarcinationem ; tamen in legibus, non tarn 

 stilus et descriptio, quam Authoritas, et hujus patronus Anti- 

 quitas, spectanda est. Alias videri possit hujusmodi opus scho- 

 lasticum potius quiddam et methodus, quam Corpus Legum 

 Imperantium. 



APHORISMUS 63. 



Consultum fuerit in Novo Digesto Legum vetera volumina 

 non prorsus deleri et in oblivionem cedere, sed in bibliothecis 

 saltern manere ; licet usus eorum vulgaris et promiscuus prohi- 

 beatur. Etenim in causis gravioribus, non abs re fuerit legum 

 praeteritarum mutationes et series consulere et inspicere ; ac 

 certe sollenne est antiquitatem praesentibus aspergere. Novum 

 autem hujusmodi Corpus Legum ab iis qui in politiis singulis 

 habent potestatem legislatoriam prorsus confirmandum est ; ne 

 forte, praetextu veteres leges digerendi, leges novae imponantur 

 occulto. 



APHORISMUS 64. 



Optandum esset ut hujusmodi Legum Instauratio illis tem- 

 poribus suscipiatur, quae antiquioribus, quorum acta et opera 

 retractant, literis et rerum cognitione praestiterint. Quod 

 secus in opere Justiniani evenit. Infoelix res namque est, cum 

 ex judicio et delectu aetatis minus prudentis et eruditae antiquo- 

 rum opera mutilentur et recomponantur. Veruntamen saepe 

 necessarium est, quod non optimum. 



Atque de Legum Obscuritate, quae a nimia et confusa earum 



portion of it continual references to every source of law, to leges, plebiscite, edicta, 

 senatus consulta, and imperial rescripts and constitutions, as well as to jus civile, in 

 the narrow sense in which the phrase is equivalent to immemorial custom. It is 

 scarcely necessary to mention that Tribonianus was Justinian's chief instrument in 

 the compilation of the Digest, Codex, and the Institutes. The first of these three 

 works is the greatest in extent and importance. It was drawn up by a commission of 

 seventeen persons, of which Tribonianus was the head, as he was likewise of the 

 smaller commissions by which the other two were compiled. By the Codex I mean 

 the Codex Repetitee Pralectionis : Tribonianus was not at the head of the commission 

 by which the original Codex was drawn up, and it has been conjectured that his dis- 

 satisfaction at this circumstance occasioned the revision. 



