The Institutes of Justinian (529–533)

By the time Justinian became emperor, Roman law was a confused jumble of traditions dating back centuries. Justinian set his legal experts to work systematically organizing the various laws into one code, the Corpus Juris Civilis. In so doing, he not only put his own government on a stronger legal foundation, he preserved Roman law for future generations. It was his work that made possible the reintroduction of Roman law in the West centuries later. In the introduction to the Institutes, a handbook of civil law designed for students that was part of the Corpus, Justinian placed his legal reforms in the context of Roman imperial renewal. As you read the introduction, consider Justinian’s political motives for carrying out the project. How did the reform of Roman law contribute to the concentration of power in the hands of the emperor?

The imperial majesty should be not only made glorious by arms, but also strengthened by laws, that, alike in time of peace and in time of war, the state may be well governed, and that the emperor may not only be victorious in the field of battle, but also may by every legal means repel the iniquities of men who abuse the laws, and may at once religiously uphold justice and triumph over his conquered enemies.

By our incessant labors and great care, with the blessing of God, we have attained this double end. The barbarian nations reduced under our yoke know our efforts in war; to which also Africa and very many other provinces bear witness, which, after so long an interval, have been restored to the dominion of Rome and our empire, by our victories gained through the favor of heaven. All nations moreover are governed by laws which we have already either promulgated or compiled.

When we had arranged and brought into perfect harmony the hitherto confused mass of imperial constitutions, we then extended our care to the vast volumes of ancient law; and, sailing as it were across the mid-ocean, have now completed, through the favor of heaven, a work that once seemed beyond hope.

When by the blessing of God this task was accomplished, we summoned the most eminent . . . professors of law, all of whom have on many occasions proved to us their ability, legal knowledge, and obedience to our orders; and we have specially charged them to compose, under our authority and advice, Institutes, so that you may no more learn the first elements of law from old and erroneous sources, but apprehend them by the clear light of imperial wisdom; and that your minds and ears may receive nothing that is useless or misplaced, but only what obtains in actual practice. So that, whereas, formerly, the junior students could scarcely, after three years’ study, read the imperial constitutions, you may now commence your studies by reading them, you who have been thought worthy of an honor and a happiness so great as that the first and last lessons in the knowledge of the law should issue for you from the mouth of the emperor. . . .

In these [Institutes] a brief exposition is given of the ancient laws, and of those also which, overshadowed by disuse, have been again brought to light by our imperial authority.

These four books of Institutes thus compiled, from all the Institutes left us by the ancients, and chiefly from the commentaries of our Gaius,1 both in his Institutes, and in his work on daily affairs, and also from many other commentaries, were presented to us by the three learned men we have above named. We have read and examined them and have accorded to them all the force of our constitutions.

Receive, therefore, with eagerness, and study with cheerful diligence, these our laws, and show yourselves persons of such learning that you may conceive the flattering hope of yourselves being able, when your course of legal study is completed, to govern our empire in the different portions that may be entrusted to your care. . . .

The term justice, in its most extended sense, was taken by the Roman jurists to include all the commands laid upon men that they are bound to fulfill, both the commands of morality and of law. . . .

The maxims of law are these: to live honestly, to hurt no one, to give every one his due.

From Thomas Collett Sandars, trans. and ed., The Institutes of Justinian (New York: Longman’s, Green, and Co., 1917), pp. 1–7.