Novellae Constitutiones

The Novellae Constitutiones ("new constitutions"; Latin: Novellæ constitutiones, Greek: Νεαραί διατάξεις), or Justinian's Novels, are now considered one of the four major units of Roman law initiated by Roman Emperor Justinian I in the course of his long reign (AD 527–565). The other three pieces are: the Codex Justinianus, the Digest, and the Institutes. Justinian's quaestor Tribonian was primarily responsible for compiling these last three. Together, the four parts are known as the Corpus Juris Civilis. Whereas the Code, Digest, and Institutes were designed by Justinian as coherent works, the Novels are diverse laws enacted after 534 (when he promulgated the second edition of the Code) that never were officially compiled during his reign.[1] (According to Black's Law Dictionary, a translated, unabridged collection of Justinian's Greek Novels is known as Liber Authenticorum.)

History

Justinian’s first Code, issued in 529, compiled and harmonized the imperial enactments (constitutiones, or constitutions) of previous emperors.[2] After the Code was promulgated, only it, and not the prior imperial legislation, could be cited as law. However, in 530 and 531, Justinian issued the quinquaginta decisiones (fifty decisions) that resolved differences among the writings of classical jurists, and he continued to issue other new laws as well.[3] This meant the Code could no longer be the sole, unified source of imperial legislation. Hence, in 534 Justinian issued the Constitutio cordi nobis,[4] creating a second edition of the Code (Codex repetitae praelectionis). This edition integrated his new legislation into the imperial enactments in the first edition and superseded it.

Justinian continued to legislate after he created the second edition of the Code. Thus, in his pragmatic sanction of 554 (Sanctio pragmatica pro petitione Vigilii),[5] he foresaw that he would need to maintain a collection of these new constitutions modifying the Code (novellae constitutiones, quae post nostri codicis confectionem). This he did in the form of an archive called the Liber legum or Libri legum.[6]

Timeline

While Justinian never made an official manuscript compilation of the new laws, private persons filled this void by making unofficial collections in several forms. The following timeline provides a succinct description of these collections and explains how they were transmitted through the centuries.[7]

"Arbor feudorum" diagramming feudal rights, from a 1553 Lyon edition of Justinian's Novels

See also

References

  1. See generally, A. Arthur Schiller, Roman Law: Mechanisms of Development, §§ 12-16 at 29-40 (1978) and Tony Honoré, "Justinian's Codification" in The Oxford Classical Dictionary 803 (Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth eds. 3rd rev. ed 2003). For a detailed history of the Novels, see Timothy Kearley, "The Creation and Transmission of Justinian's Novels," available at .
  2. See Constitutio haec quae necessario, or “Concerning the Establishment of a New Code” (Feb. 13, 528), translated by Justice Fred Blume in the “Annotated Justinian Code,” available at and Constitutio summa rei publicae, or “Concerning the Confirmation of the Code of Justinian,” id. at page 2.
  3. See Tony Honoré, Tribonian 124-222 (1978).
  4. “Concerning the Correction of the Justinian Code, and the Second Edition Thereof” (November 16, 534), translated by Justice Fred Blume in the “Annotated Justinian Code,” at page 4.
  5. "That the Laws of the Emperor Shall be Extended into his Provinces” (August 13, 554), available at .
  6. See Pierre Noailles, 1 Les Collections de Novelles de l’Empereur Justinian 31-58 (1912) available at .
  7. For a more detailed examination of the Novels and their transmission, see Timothy Kearley, The Creation and Transmission of Justinian’s Novels (2010), supra note 1.
  8. Detlef Liebs, Die Jurisprudenz im Spätanitken Italien 220-223, 264-265 (1987).
  9. Charles M. Radding & Antonio Ciaralli, The Corpus Iuris Civilis in the Middle Ages: Manuscripts and Transmissions from the Sixth Century to the Juristic Revival 40 (2007).
  10. Id. at 35-36 and Schiller, supra note 1, § 16 at 39.
  11. See generally, Schiller, supra note 1 § 16 at 40, and Wolfgang Kunkel, An Introduction to Roman Legal and Constitutional History 176 (J.M. Kelly trans. 2nd ed. 1973).
  12. See generally, Noailles, supra note 6 at 183-198.
  13. Id. at 181-183.
  14. On the Basilica, see Kunkel, supra note 11 at 179-181.
  15. See Schiller, supra note 1, § 12 at 29-30.
  16. On the Venetian manuscript, see generally, Noailles, supra note 6, vol. 2 at 5-45.
  17. On the Florentine manuscript, see generally, Noailles, supra, note 6, vol. 2 at 107-116. Lodovicio Bolognini made copy of the Florentine manuscript in the early 16th century that is referred to as the Bolognese manuscript or Bononiensis,
  18. Volumen Parvum.
  19. Novellarum Constitutionem Justiniane Quae Exstant ut Exstant Volumen.
  20. Impp. Iustiniani, Iustini, Leonis Novellae Constitutiones. Muirhead, Historical Introduction to the Private Law of Rome 410 (1899) dates it 1557, and Wenger, Die Quellen des Romischen Rechts 678 (1953) gives 1556, but WorldCat bibliographic records show only 1558.
  21. Codicis D.N. Justiniani…
  22. Das Corpus Juris Civilis (1831-39). Justice Fred Blume used this as an adjunct in his English translation of the Code and Novels.
  23. Novellae et Reliquae, part of Kriegel et al., Corpus Juris Civiles (1840-43). Scott used a later edition of the Kriegel CJC (1872) for his translation in The Civil Law (1932, repr. 1973).
  24. Authenticum Novellarum Constitutionum Iustiniani Versio Vulgata (1846-1851).
  25. Iuliani Epitome Latina Novellarum Iustiniani.
  26. Imperatoris Iustiniani Peretui Augusti Novellae Quae Vocuntur.
  27. Corpus Iuris Civilis (1877-1895). This is the version Justice Blume employed in creating his translations of the Code and Novels. It has gone through several editions and reprintings, the most recent being 1993-2000. This version is accepted by scholars as the standard edition.
  28. See Guilelmus [Wihelm] Kroll, "Praefatio," 3 Rudolf Schoell & Wilhelm Kroll, Corpus Iuris Civilis: Novellae iii, vii (1912).
  29. Scott's translation The Civil Law is available at .
  30. See Kearley, supra note 7 at 537-538.
  31. For further discussion of the work of Scott, Blume, and Pharr on Roman law translation see Kearley, Timothy G., "From Rome to the Restatement: S.P. Scott, Fred Blume, Clyde Pharr, and Roman Law in Early Twentieth-Century," available at Social Science Research Network .
  32. For Blume's translation of these works see the Annotated Justinian Code web site available at . For the history of Blume's Annotated Justinian Code, see Timothy Kearley, "Justice Fred Blume and the Translation of Justinian's Code," available at . David J.D. Miller and Peter Sarris are preparing a new translation of the Novels from the Greek for publication by the Cambridge University Press.
  33. David J.D. Miller & Timothy Kearley, "Wilhelm Kroll's Preface to Justinian's Novels: An English Translation," University of Wyoming, Annotated Justinian Code website

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, March 21, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.