Justinian the jurist

Thesis

This thesis argues that Justinian’s laws are united by an analytical understanding of legal validities and reasoning that is usually associated with the classical jurists. This argument is based on close attention to Justinian’s legal reasoning and his explanations of his laws, as found in both the Code and the Novels. The thesis makes a broad three-way distinction of Justinian’s Novels between private, administrative, and ecclesiastical law according to each law’s impact. Private law moderates the life of ordinary subjects and citizens, administrative law directs the actions of government officials, and ecclesiastical law manages ecclesiastical property, clerics, and religious. According to this division of subject matter and final audience, Justinian deployed different legal arguments, different sources of evidence, and presented his own role in diverse ways.

The apparent extent of Justinian’s juristic outlook depends on the type of law written. The jurists concerned themselves chiefly with private law, and it is in this area that we see Justinian the jurist most clearly, for whilst maintaining the form of imperial legislation, he worked against a backdrop of the juristic tradition and adopted their patterns of reasoning. By contrast, Justinian wrote other kinds of law according to their own rules. In so doing, he revealed an analytical approach to distinguishing types of law that finds its only ancient comparisons in the thinking of the jurists. By arguing that Justinian conformed his legislation to different audiences and with constant attention to the acceptable forms of reasoning in those different areas, this thesis challenges the prevailing view that Justinian approached law with a totalitarian mindset, where imperial fiat was the sole determiner of law and ‘not-law’.

Authors: Bunce, WL

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-2avqnayz0
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Justinianic law; novels; Roman law; Justinian; Byzantine law; Jurists; Roman jurisprudence
• Subjects: Roman law; Byzantine Empire--History--Justinian I, 527-565; Law, Byzantine