The Theodosian Code.
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THE THEODOSIAN CODE. AMONGST the Roman lawyers, many individuals left behind them hundreds of books of their own composition on the laws. These overwhelming masses rendered a me thodical collection and digest of the laws necessary. This was all that was attempted by the Theodosian Code. This code of laws, which is sometimes erroneously as cribed to Theodosius the Great, derived its origin from his grandson, Theodosius the younger. On the decease of the first Theo dosius, the Roman empire was divided be tween his two sons, the provinces of the East being allotted to Arcadius, those of the West to Honorius. From the sovereign of the East descended Theodosius II. After the death of his father and of his uncle, he again united the dominions which had thus been partitioned; but conferring the titles of Caesar and Augustus upon Valentinian III, who married his daughter, Licinia Eudoxia, he assigned to him the western provinces of the empire. This son-in-law, who became his successor at Constantinople, was likewise his cousin, being the son of Constantius Caesar, and of Galla Placidia, the daughter of Theodosius the Great. The character of the Roman lawyers had now degenerated. Their chief splendor is to be traced from the reign of Augustus to that of Alexander Severus, and the last name of great celebrity is that of Hereninus Modestinus. With this pupil of Ulpian, the oracles of the civilians became mute, the succeeding lawyers arc only known as com pilers or expounders, and although the law was long afterwards taught at Rome, Con stantinople and Berytus, we cannot in those declining annals discover any vestiges of ancient genius. The reign of Constantine was not conspicuous for legal science, and by fixing the seat of empire at Byzantium, he diminished all the chances or probabilities of further improvement. To the great body
of those who inhabited the new metropolis, the language of the law was a foreign lan guage, nor was this the only circumstance unfavorable to the cultivation and progress of jurisprudence. Of the state of judicial administration during the fourth and fifth centuries, much knowledge is to be gleaned from the Theo dosian Code. The Theodosian Code was founded on the Codex Gregorianuset Hermogenianus which had been compiled by two private lawyers, Gregorius or Gregorianus, and Hermogenes or Hermogenianus, for their respective names are not completely ascertained. From the order in which those codes are mentioned by ancient writers it is to be inferred that the labors of Gregorius preceded those of Hermogenianus. Some fragments of both codes have been preserved by Anianus. Gregorius appears to have collected the imperial constitutions belong ing to the intermediate reigns, from Hadrian to Constantine the Great. Hermogenianus is supposed to have formed a supplementary collection, and the remaining fragments consist entirely of the constitutions of Dio cletian and Maximinian. Of the former of these compilers, the personal history is involved in complete obscurity; according to the conjectures of modern civilians the latter must have flourished in the reign of Constantine; and he is supposed to be the same Hermogenianus whose works are quoted in the Pandects. Both compilations are apparently to be considered as the un dertakings of private individuals. It appears to have been the original inten tion of Theodosius to compile two codes, arranged according to different plans. But his second code was never completed, nor is it easy to conjecture what specific plan he contemplated. The Emperor declared his intention in the year, A. D. 429, and the Theodosian Code received his sanction on
