The Theodosian Code and Novels, and the Sirmondian Constitutions


Book Description

Pharr, Clyde. The Theodosian Code and Novels and the Sirmondian Constitutions: A Translation with Commentary, Glossary, and Bibliography. [Princeton]: Princeton University Press, 1952. xxvi, 643 pp. Reprinted 2001 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. LCCN 2001023441. ISBN 1-58477-146-1. Hardcover. * Definitive scholarly English translation of the Theodosian Code, which was the Code of laws that regulated Roman life at its apex before the era of Justinian. The structure and scope of this text illustrate the complexity of the legal system of this fascinating era and the ultimate fall of the Roman empire. Marital law, adultery and inheritance; libel; the military; pardons; government administration; tax and tax appeals; fiscal law, debtors, and petitions; notification of suit; the secret service; land matters; gladiators, conscripted labor and compulsory public service, slavery and manumission, including the restriction of Jews against ownership of Christian slaves; the relationship of church and state and much more are covered. With thorough introduction, commentary, glossary, bibliography. Well-indexed.




Laying Down the Law


Book Description

A comprehensive guide to the Theodosian Code which provides an invaluable source for the legal, social, religious and cultural history of the late Roman Empire. Written between 429 and 437 AD, the Code was a compilation of 3500 texts, of which more than 2700 survive, which published Roman imperial legislation from the reign of Constantine the great to Theodosius II. Matthews initially examines the political context for the Code and the events surrounding its actual composition before considering the contents of the Code, the Sirmondian Constitutions, the nature of the late Roman constitution and detailed editorial issues.




The Theodosian Code and Novels


Book Description

A translation with commentary, glossary, and bibliography.







The Theodosian Code


Book Description




Law in the Crisis of Empire, 379-455 AD


Book Description

This new book by an eminent legal scholar and author can be described in a number of ways: a work of reference; an essay in the study of style; a contribution to the prosopography of the late Roman quaestorship; and a reflection on the fall of the western (and on the survival of the eastern) Roman empire. Using an innovative method of analysis--already successfully employed in his acclaimed Emperors and Lawyers (OUP 1994)--the author examines the laws of a crucial phase of the later Roman empire (379-455 AD), a period during which the west collapsed while the east persisted. He allots the laws to their likely drafters and shows why the eastern Theodosian Code (429-438 AD), intended to restore the legal and administrative unity of the Roman empire, came too late to save the west. The book includes a Palingenesia--as stored on an accompanying floppy disk--allowing scholars to read the primary texts chronologically and judge the soundness of the arguments advanced.







Theodosius II


Book Description

Theodosius II (AD 408–450) was the longest reigning Roman emperor. Ever since Edward Gibbon, he has been dismissed as mediocre and ineffectual. Yet Theodosius ruled an empire which retained its integrity while the West was broken up by barbarian invasions. This book explores Theodosius' challenges and successes. Ten essays by leading scholars of late antiquity provide important new insights into the court at Constantinople, the literary and cultural vitality of the reign, and the presentation of imperial piety and power. Much attention has been directed towards the changes promoted by Constantine at the beginning of the fourth century; much less to their crystallisation under Theodosius II. This volume explores the working out of new conceptions of the Roman Empire - its history, its rulers and its God. A substantial introduction offers a new framework for thinking afresh about the long transition from the classical world to Byzantium.