The Corpus Juris Civilis

The Corpus Juris Civilis, also known as the Code of Justinian, or “Body of Civil Law,” is a comprehensive collection of laws commissioned by the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I. Compiled under the direction of the jurist Tribonian between 529 and 565 AD, it is the culmination of Roman law, for which the Roman Empire was historically renowned. Roman law is the collective body of legal rules established during the Roman Republic and Empire, and it reached its zenith under Justinian I. It laid the foundation for later jurisprudence, particularly for the civil codes of continental Europe. The world’s earliest universities often started with only two faculties: theology and law, where students would study the Corpus Juris Civilis.

Strictly speaking, the Corpus Juris Civilis wasn’t an entirely new legal code. It was primarily a compilation of existing Roman laws, along with the legal interpretations of authoritative jurists. The collection also included the Institutes, a legal textbook for law students, and the Novellae Constitutiones, new laws issued by Justinian I himself. After the entire compilation was finished, any further commentaries on the work or other new legislation were prohibited.

In Western Europe, the Corpus Juris Civilis was revived during the Middle Ages and was “adopted” or imitated as private law. Its public law content was also used as legal arguments by various secular states and the Roman Curia. The revived Roman law became the ancestor of all civil codes in countries with a civil law system and remains an essential document for legal scholars. The provisions of the civil code also influenced the canon law of the Catholic Church.