S5i L A W. 
of notaries and Scribes; they were transmitted to the ma- 
giftrates of the.European, the Afiatic, and afterwards the 
African, provinces; and the law of the empire was pro¬ 
claimed on folernn fettivals at the doors of churches. 
A more arduous operation was (till behind; to extract 
the fpirit of jurifprudence from the decisions and conjec¬ 
tures, the quetlions and difputes, of the Roman civilians. 
Seventeen lawyers, with Tribonian at their head, were ap¬ 
pointed by the emperor to exercife an abfolute jurifdic- 
lion over the works of their predeceffors. If they had 
obeyed his commands in ten years, Juftinian would have 
been Satisfied with their diligence ; and the rapid compo¬ 
sition of the Digest, or Pandects, in three years, will 
deferve praife or ceniurfc, according to the merit of the 
execution. From the library of Tribonian, they chole 
forty, the moft eminent civilians of former times ; two 
thoufand treatifes were comprifed in an abridgment of 
fifty books; and it has been carefully recorded, that three 
millions of lines, or -fentenees, were reduced in this ab- 
ltracl, to the moderate number of one hundred and fifty- 
thoufand. The edition of this great work was delayed a 
month after that of the Institutes ; and it Seemed rea¬ 
sonable that the elements fhould precede the dig-eft of the 
Roman law. As foon as the emperor had approved their 
labours, he ratified, by his legiflative power, the fpecula- 
tions of thefe private citizens ; their commentaries on the 
Twelve Tables, the Perpetual Edict, the laws of the peo¬ 
ple, and the decrees of the fenate, fucceeded to the autho¬ 
rity of the text; and the text was abandoned, as an ufe- 
lefs, though venerable, relic of antiquity. The Code , the 
PandcBs, and the InJUtutes, were declared to be the legiti¬ 
mate fyftem of civil jurifprudence; they alone were ad¬ 
mitted in the tribunals, and they alone were taught in the 
academies of Rome, Conftantinople, and Berytus. Jufti¬ 
nian addreffed to the fenate and provinces, his eternal ora¬ 
cles ; and his pride, under the mafic of piety, aferibed the 
consummation of this great defign to the fupport and in- 
l'piration of the Deity. 
Since the emperor declined the fame and envy of ori¬ 
ginal compofition, we can only require at his hands, me¬ 
thod, choice, and fidelity, the humble, though indifpen- 
fable,-virtues of a compiler. Among the various combi¬ 
nations of ideas, it is difficult to affigu any reafonable pre¬ 
ference ; but, as the order of Juftinian is different in his 
three works, it is poffible that all may be wrong ; and it 
is certain that two cannot be right. In the Selection of 
ancient laws, he feems to have viewed his predeceffors 
without jealoufy, and with equal regard; the feries could 
not afcend above the reign of Adrian, and the narrow 
diftinCtion of Paganifm and Chriftianity, introduced by 
the fuperftition of Theodofius, had been abolifhed by the 
confent of mankind. But the jurifprudence of the Pan- 
deCts is circumfcribed within a period of an hundred years, 
from the Perpetual EdiCt to the death of Alexander Se- 
verus ; the civilians who lived under the firft Caefars are 
feldom permitted to fpeak, and only three names can be 
attributed to the age of the republic. The favourite of 
Juftinian (it has been fiercely urged) was fearful of en¬ 
countering the light of freedom and the gravity of Ro¬ 
man fages. Tribonian condemned to oblivion the ge¬ 
nuine and native wifdom of Cato, the Scasvolas, and Sul- 
picius; while he invoked fpirits more congenial to his 
own, the Syrians, Greeks, and Africans, who flocked to 
the imperial court to ftudy Latin as a foreign tongue, and 
jurifprudence as a lucrative profeffion. But the minifters 
of Juftinian were inftructed to labour, not for the curio- 
fity of antiquarians, but for the immediate benefit of his 
Subjects. It was their duty to SeleCt the ufeful and prac¬ 
tical parts of the Roman law ; and the writings of the old 
republicans, however curious or excellent, were no longer 
Suited to the new fyftem of manners, religion, and govern¬ 
ment. Perhaps, if the preceptors and friends of Cicero 
were ftill alive, our candour would acknowledge, that, ex¬ 
cept in purity of language, their intrinfic merit was ex¬ 
celled by the fchool of Papinian and Uipian. 
It is the firft care of a reformer to prevent any future 
reformation. To maintain the texts of the Pandects, the 
Inftitutes, and the Code, the ufeof ciphers and abbrevia¬ 
tions was rigoroufiy proferibed; and, as Juftinian recol¬ 
lected that the Twelve Tables had been buried under 
the weight of commentators, he denounced the puniffi- 
ment of forgery again!! the ralh civilians who (liould pre- 
fume to interpret or pervert the will of their fovereign. 
The Scholars of Accurfius, of Bartolus, of Cujacius, fliould 
bluffi for their accumulated guilt, unlefs they dare to dif- 
pute his right, of binding the authority of his fucceffors, 
and the native freedom of the mind. But the emperor 
was unable to fix his own inconftancy; and, while he 
boafted of renewing the exchange of Diomede, of tranf- 
muting brafs into gold, he difeovered the neceffity of pu¬ 
rifying his gold from the mixture of baler alloy. Six 
years had not elapfed from the publication of the Code, 
before he condemned the imperfect attempt, by a new and 
more accurate edition of the fame work; which he en¬ 
riched with two hundred of his own laws, and fifty deci¬ 
fions of the darkeft and moft intricate points of jurifpru¬ 
dence. Every year, or, according to Procopius, each day, 
of his long reign, was marked by fome legal innovation. 
Many of his ads were refeinded by hitnfelf; many were 
rejected by his fucceffors, many have been obliterated by 
time; but the number of fixteen Edicts, and one hun¬ 
dred and fixty-eight Novels, has been admitted into the 
authentic body of the civil jurifprudence. 
The penal ftatutes form a very fmall proportion of the 
fixty-two books of the Code and PandeCts; and, in all 
judicial proceeding, the life or death of a citizen is deter¬ 
mined with lefs caution and delay than the moft ordinary 
quellion of covenant or inheritance. This fingular dis¬ 
tinction, though fomething may be allowed for the urgent 
neceffity of defending the peace of fociety, is derived from 
the nature of criminal and civil jurifprudence. Our duties 
to the (late are limple and uniform ; the law by which he 
is condemned, is inferibed not only on brafs or marble, 
but on the confcience of the offender, and his guilt is 
commonly proved by the teftimony of a fingle faCt. But 
our relations to each other are various and infinite; our 
obligations are created, annulled, and modified, by inju¬ 
ries, benefits, and promifes ; and the interpretation of vo¬ 
luntary contracts and teftaments, which are often dic¬ 
tated by fraud or ignorance, affords a long and laborious 
exercife to the fagacity of the judge. The bufinefs of 
life is multiplied by the extent of commerce and domi¬ 
nion, and the refidence of the parties in the diftant pro¬ 
vinces of an empire, is productive of doubt, delay, and 
inevitable appeals from the local to the fupreme magis¬ 
trate. Juftinian, the Greek emperor of Conftantinople 
and the Eaft, was the legal fuccefi'or of the Latin fhep- 
herd who had planted a colony on the banks of the Ty- 
ber. In a period of thirteen hundred years, the laws had 
reluctantly foilow'ed the changes of government and man¬ 
ners ; and the laudable defire of conciliating ancient 
names with recent inftitutions, deftroyed the harmony, 
and (welled the magnitude, of the obfeure and irregular 
fyftem. The laws which excufe on any occafions the ig¬ 
norance of theiriubjefts, confefs their own imperfections; 
the civil jurisprudence, as it was abridged by Juftinian, 
ftill continued a myfterious Science and a profitable trade, 
and the innate perplexity of the ftudy was involved in 
tenfold darknefs by the private induftry of the practi¬ 
tioners. The expenfe of-the purfuit Sometimes exceeded 
the value of the prize, and the faireft rights were aban¬ 
doned by the poverty or prudence of the claimants. Such 
coftly juftice might tend to abate the Spirit of litigation, 
but the unequal preffure ferve's only to increafe the in¬ 
fluence of the rich, and to aggravate the mifery of the 
poor. By thefe dilatory and expenfive proceedings, the 
wealthy pleader obtains a more certain advantage than he 
could hope from the accidental corruption of his judge. 
The experience of an abufe, from which our own age and 
country are not perfectly exempt, may Sometimes provoke 
a generous 
