Justinian's Corpus Iuris Civilis: Oddities of Legal Development, and Human Civilisation

Authors

Alan Watson, University of Georgia School of LawFollow

Journal of Comparative Law, Vol. 1, No. 2 (2006), pp. 461-466

Abstract

The most momentous event in secular legal history is also perhaps the weirdest: Justinian's compilation, now known as the Corpus Iuris Civilis. Unsurprisingly, scholars have avoided stressing how odd the Corpus Iuris is. The most likely explanation is that it is so highly regarded that they have not noticed. They accept its high reputation, hence for them high quality is a given. This is a theme to which I return and no doubt will continue to return. The Corpus Iuris is so central in history, for understanding how law develops, and is so important today.

Repository Citation

Alan Watson, Justinian's Corpus Iuris Civilis: Oddities of Legal Development, and Human Civilisation (2006),
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/fac_artchop/387