TheDigest (Latin:Digesta), also known as thePandects (Pandectae;Ancient Greek:Πανδέκται,Pandéktai, "All-Containing"), was a compendium or digest of juristic writings onRoman law compiled by order of theByzantine emperorJustinian I in 530–533 AD. It is divided into 50 books.
TheDigest was part of a reduction and codification of allRoman laws up to that time, which later came to be known as theCorpus Juris Civilis (lit. 'Body of Civil Law'[1]). The other two parts were a collection of statutes, theCodex (Code), which survives in a second edition, and an introductory textbook, theInstitutes; all three parts were given force of law. The set was intended to be complete, but Justinian passed further legislation, which was later collected separately as theNovellae Constitutiones (New Laws or, conventionally, the "Novels").
The originalCodex Justinianus was promulgated in April of 529 by the C. "Summa". This made it the only source of imperial law, and repealed all earlier codifications.[2] However, it permitted reference to ancient jurists whose writings had been regarded as authoritative.[3] Under Theodosus II'sLaw of Citations, the writings ofPapinian,Paulus,Ulpian,Modestinus, andGaius were made the primary juristic authorities who could be cited in court. Others cited by them also could be referred to, but their views had to be "informed by a comparison of manuscripts".[4]
The principal survivingmanuscript is theLittera Florentina of the late sixth or early seventh century. In the Middle Ages, theDigest was divided into three parts, and most of the manuscripts contain only one of these parts.[5] The entireDigest was first translated into English in 1985 by the Scottish legal scholarAlan Watson.[6]
TheDigest was discovered inAmalfi in 1135, prompting a revival of learning of Roman law throughout Europe. Other sources claim it was discovered in 1070 and formed a major impetus for the founding of the first university in Europe, theUniversity of Bologna (1088).[citation needed]
The codified authorities often conflicted. Therefore, Justinian ordered these conflicts to be settled and fifty of these were published as the "quinquaginta decisiones" (fifty decisions). Soon after, he further decreed that the works of these ancient writers, which totalled over 1,500 books, be condensed into fifty books. These were to be entitledDigesta in Latin andPandectae orPandéktai (Πανδέκται) in Greek.[7] In response to this order of December 15, 530 ("Deo auctore"),Tribonian created a commission of sixteen members to do the work—one government official, four professors, and eleven advocates.[8]
The commission was given the power to condense and alter the texts in order to simplify, clarify, and eliminate conflicts among them.[8] The Digest's organization is complex: each of the fifty books is divided into several titles, each containing several extracts, and many of the extracts have several parts or paragraphs.[9] Research in the modern era has created a highly probable picture of how the commission carried out its task.[10]
Approximately two-fifths of the Digest consists of the writings ofUlpian, while some one-sixth belongs toPaulus.[7] The work was declared to be the sole source of non-statute law: commentaries on the compilation were forbidden, or even the citing of the original works of the jurists for the explaining of ambiguities in the text.[11] Oneopinion written by Paulus at the beginning of theCrisis of the Third Century in 235 AD about theLex Rhodia ("Rhodian law") articulates thegeneral average principle of marine insurance established on the island ofRhodes in approximately 1000 to 800 BC as a member of theDoric Hexapolis, plausibly by thePhoenicians during the proposedDorian invasion and emergence of the purportedSea Peoples during theGreek Dark Ages (c. 1100–750 BC) that led to the proliferation of theDoric Greek dialect.[12][13][14] The law of general average constitutes the fundamentalprinciple that underlies allinsurance.[13] Also, in an opinion dated to approximately 220 AD during the reign ofElagabalus (218–222) of theSeveran dynasty, Ulpian compiled alife table that would later be submitted in an article to theJournal of the Institute of Actuaries in 1851 by future U.S. Supreme Court Associate JusticeJoseph P. Bradley (1870–1892), a formeractuary for theMutual Benefit Life Insurance Company.[15]
English translations have been published by Samuel Parsons Scott (1932)[16] and Alan Watson (1985),[17] the latter based on the Latin text published byTheodor Mommsen in 1878.
TITLE VII. ON THE LEX RHODIA. It is provided by theLex Rhodia that if merchandise is thrown overboard for the purpose of lightening a ship, the loss is made good by the assessment of all which is made for the benefit of all.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
