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PROCEMIUM

DE

CONFIRMATIONE INSTITUTIONUM.

IN NOMINE DOMINI NOSTRI JESU CHRISTI. IMPERATOR, CESAR FLAVIUS JUSTINIANUS, ALEMANICUS, GOTTHICUS, FRANCICUS, GERMANICUS, ANTICUS, ALANICUS, VANDALIcus, Africanus, PIUS, FELIX, INCLYTUS, VICTOR AC TRIUMPHATOR, SEMPER AUGUSTUS-CUPIDÆ LEGUM JUVENTUTI S.

De usu armorum et legum.

IMPERATORIAM majestatem non solum armis decoratam, sed etiam legibus oportet esse armatam; ut utrumque tempus et bellorum et pacis rectè possit gubernari: et princeps Romanus non solum in hostilibus præliis victor existat, sed etiam per legitimos tramites calumniantium iniquitates expellat: et fiat tam juris religiosissimus, quam, victis hostibus, triumphator magnificus.

The imperial dignity should not only be supported by arms, but guarded by laws, that the people may be properly governed in time of peace as well as war; for a Roman emperor ought not only to be victorious in the hostile field, but should take every legal course to expel the iniquities of men regardless of law; and become equally renowned for a religious observance of justice, as for warlike triumphs.

De bellis et legibus Justiniani.

§ I. Quorum utramque viam cum summis vigiliis, summâque providentiâ annuente Deo, perfecimus: et bellicos quidem sudores nostros barbaricæ gentes, sub juga nostra redactæ, cognoscunt: et tam Africa, quam aliæ innumeræ provinciæ, post tanta temporum spatia, nostris victoriis a cœlesti nemine præstitis,

$ 1. By our incessant labors, and the assistance of divine providence, we have pursued this double path: the barbarian nations have acknowledged our prowess and submitted to our yoke; even Africa and many other provinces, after so long an interval are again added to the Roman empire: and yet this vast people are

iterum ditioni Romanæ, nostroque additæ imperio, protestantur. Omnes vero populi legibus tam à nobis promulgatis, quam compositis, reguntur.

governed by laws, either originally enacted, or promulgated anew, under our authority.

De compositione Codicis et Pandectarum.

II. Et cum sacratissimas constitutiones, antea confusas, in luculentam ereximus consonantiam, tunc nostram extendimus curam ad immensa veteris prudentiæ volumina; et opus' desperatum, quasi per medium profundum euntes, cœlesti favore jam adimplevimus.

$2. When we had arranged and brought into lucid harmony the hitherto confused mass of imperial constitutions, we then extended our care to the numerous volumes of ancient law; and have now completed through the favour of heaven (wading as it were through a vast ocean) a work that might have been despaired of.

De tempore, auctoritatibus, fine et utilitate compositionis Institutionum.

§ III. Cumque hoc, Deo propitio, peractum est, Triboniano, viro magnifico, magistro, et exquæstore sacri palatii nostri, et exconsule, nec non Theophilo et Dorotheo, viris illustribus, antecessoribus, (quorum omnium solertiam, et legum scientiam, et circa nostras jussiones fidem, jam ex multis rerum argumentis accepimus,) convocatis, mandavimus specialiter, ut ipsi nostrâ auctoritate, nostrisque suasionibus, Institutiones componerent; ut liceat vobis prima legum cunabula non ab antiquis fabulis discere, sed ab imperiali splendore appetere: et tam aures, quam animi vestri, nihil inutile, nihilque perperam positum, sed quod in ipsis rerum obtinet argumentis, accipiant: et quod priore tempore vix post quadriennium prioribus contingebat, ut tunc consti

3. So soon as by the blessing of God this was accomplished, we summoned Tribonian, our former chancellor, with Theopilus and Dorotheus, men of known learning and tried fidelity, whom we enjoined by our authority to compose the following Institutes, that the rudiments of law might be more effectually learned by the sole means of our imperial authority; and that your minds for the future should not be burdened with obsolete and unprofitable doctrines, but instructed in those laws only which are allowed of and practised; and, whereas Students formerly could scarcely sit down to the imperial constitutions under four years previous study, they may now (having been thought worthy of our princely care, to which they are indebted for the beginning and end of

tutiones imperatorias legerent, hoc vos à primordio ingrediamini, digni tanto honore, tantâque reperti felicitate, ut et initium vobis, et finis legum eruditionis, a voce principali procedat.

their legal erudition) apply themselves immediately to that course of reading.

Diviso Institutionum.

§ IV. Igitur post libros quinquaginta Digestorum, seu Pandectarum, (in quibus omne jus antiquum collectum est, quod per eundem virum excelsum Tribonianum, nec non cæteros viros illustres et facundissimos, confecimus,) in quatuor libros easdem Institutiones partiri juessimus, ut sint tortius legitimæ scientiæ prima elementa.

§ 4. When therefore, by the assistance of Tribonian and other illustrious persons, we had compiled the fifty books, called Digests or Pandects, we directed that the Institutes should be divided into four books, which serve as elements of the science of law.

Quid in Institutionibus contineatur.

V. In quibus breviter expositum est, et quod antea obtinebat, et quod postea, desuetudine inumbratum, imperiali remedio illumina

tum est.

§ 5. Wherein are briefly set forth the laws formerly in use, and those also, which having been overshadowed by disuse, are now brought to light by our princely care.

Ex quibus libris composite sunt Institutiones, atque
earum recognitio, et confirmatio.

§ VI. Quas, ex omnibus antiquorum Institutionibus, et præcipuè ex commentariis Caii nostri, tam institutionum, quam rerum quotidianarum, aliisque multis commentariis compositas, cum tres viri prudentes prædicti nobis obtulerunt, et legimus, et recognovimus, et plenissimum nostrarum constitutionum robur eis accommodavimus.

6. The four books of Institutes. thus compiled by Tribonian, Theophilus, and Dorotheus, from all the institutions of the ancient law, but chiefly from the commentaries, institutions, and other writings of Caius, being presented to us, we read and diligently examined their contents; and, in testimony of our approbation, we have now given them our fullest constitutional authority.

Adhortatio ad studium juris.

§ VII. Summâ itaque ope, et alacri studio, has leges nostras accipite et vosmetipsos sic eruditos ostendite, ut spes vos pulcherrima foveat, toto legitimo opere perfecto, posse etiam nostram rempublicam, in partibus ejus vobis credendis, gubernari.

§ 7. Receive therefore and study these our laws with diligence and alacrity; and show yourselves so competent therein, that when your studies shall be finished, you may entertain a cheering hope of having a part of the government committed to your charge.

D. CP. XI. Kalend. Decemb. D. JUSTINIANO PP. A. III. COS.

Given at Constantinople on the eleventh day before the calends of December, in the third consulate of the Emperor JUSTINIAN, always august. (21st Nov. 533.)

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