Justinian I (Tribonian and commissioners) · Author
Author
Justinian I (Tribonian and commissioners)
Justinian I, detail of the mosaic in San Vitale, Ravenna (c. 547). Source · Public domain
About Justinian I (Tribonian and commissioners)
Justinian I (c. 482-565) was born near Naissus in the Latin-speaking Balkans, rose under his uncle Justin I, and ruled the Roman Empire from Constantinople from 527 to 565. His reign saw the codification of Roman law, the rebuilding of Hagia Sophia (537), the Nika riot (532), and wars that recovered North Africa and Italy. The Institutes were drafted under his authority by the jurist Tribonian, his quaestor, with the law professors Theophilus of Constantinople and Dorotheus of Berytus.
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“The imperial majesty should be armed with laws as well as glorified with arms”
The Institutes of Justinian is a short official textbook of Roman law, issued at Constantinople on 21 November 533 and given the force of law, together with the Digest, from 30 December of that year. It was written for first-year law students: the preface, addressed to the youth desirous of studying the law, explains that the emperor, having reconquered Africa and set in order both the imperial constitutions and the writings of the old jurists, has commissioned Tribonian, Theophilus and Dorotheus to compose an elementary book so that beginners may learn the law as it is actually in force.
