Justinian I, the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565, sponsored committees of jurists who reviewed existing laws and, after eliminating outdated or contradictory laws, placed the laws and legal opinion into one work. The work was significant in that it formed the basis of western law for centuries and inspired the categories used in the Napoleonic Code of 1804, which was drawn up under Napoleon and abolished feudal laws.
Justinian's Code also placed regulations on Jews in the Byzantine Empire and began to take away the Jews' ability to practice what was formerly a legal religion. The code allowed the state to intervene in religious Jewish questions, and Justinian often did so. For example, he disallowed the reading of the Pentateuch in Hebrew. The code also prohibited Jews from giving testimony in court against Christians, though they were eventually allowed to testify in cases between Christians and the state. Though Jews had an elevated status compared to other non-Christians, they were relegated to a lesser status than Christians in the Byzantine Empire, and the law became an instrument in their oppression.
There are at least two ways to answer this question.
First, we can say that the Code of Justinian was significant for the Byzantine Empire. The creation of the Code ensured that the Byzantine Empire would have a coherent set of laws that could be easily understood. The Code came into use around the year 530 and continued to be used as the basis of Byzantine law until the fall of the empire in 1453. Thus, the Code was significant simply because it was the basis of law for an empire for more than 900 years.
Second, we can say that the Code is significant to Western Europe as well. The Code never applied to this region because Western Europe was not part of the Byzantine Empire. Even so, the Code had a major effect in the West. It was written in Latin so it was easy for scholars in the West to use it. In the 11th century, scholars in Italy started to study the code. Before long, the Code was used to create a system of canon law. It was then used as the basis for secular legal codes. It eventually became the foundation of legal codes across all of Europe.
Why was Justinian’s code significant?
One aspect of Justinian’s Code, which is often forgotten, is that it was significant for women in the Byzantine Empire. Remember that the societies of the ancient world were largely patriarchal (ruled by men), and although Justinian did not change this state of being, his code did have an impact the lives of women living under his rule.
Under Justinian’s Code, for example, a woman could not be forced into prostitution, and women who committed adultery were no longer sentenced to death. In fact, Justinian decreed that no woman should ever be sent to jail because he was worried that women might be sexually targeted by male prison guards. Instead, all crimes were punishable by sending a woman to a nunnery.
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were also great advances for women in other areas. A woman could inherit property, for instance, and claim back her dowry if her marriage ended in divorce. This gave her financial security as a single woman.
Much of the impetus for these laws came from the influence of Justinian's wife, Theodora, who wanted better rights for women across the empire. She was a significant figure in Justinian’s reign, and we should view these laws in the same light.
Why was Justinian’s code significant?
The Code of Justinian was significant in that it represented the first serious attempt to codify the bewildering array of laws, rules, and customs that operated within the boundaries of the Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire.
The Eastern half of the Roman Empire consisted of many different ethnic and religious groups, each living according to their own laws. This made it difficult for the Emperor and his minions to rule these vast domains effectively. It was thought necessary, then, to establish a single code of law that would set out, in precise detail, the legal relationship between individuals and between individuals and the state. The Justinian Code was the result, a streamlined body of law that cut away all the old obsolete provisions of the past.
In the long-term, the Code formed the basis for the legal systems of Continental Europe. The supposed rationality of codifying law was seen as much clearer and more comprehensible than the English tradition of common law, which was subsequently exported to the American colonies and which is based on judicial precedent.
Some English thinkers such as Jeremy Bentham wanted to get rid of the common law altogether and replace it with a codified legal system instead. In putting forward such radical proposals, Bentham and other so-called legal positivists were carrying on in the tradition of rational classification of the law bequeathed to successive generations by the Code of Justinian.
Why was Justinian’s code significant?
Justinian's Code, or the Corpus Juris Civilis, is part of the foundation of modern Western jurisprudence. It serves as the foundation for both the Napoleonic Code and the Germanistic code. These two codes of civil law have influenced the development of law in many countries around the world.
In Justinian's time, the Corpus performed the important function of unifying legal standards across his empire. In the Renaissance, the Corpus started to influence Roman canon law and international law.
Finally, the Corpus is a critical source for scholars. It provides an extremely organized and comprehensive collection of laws and legal writings from the most important Classical authors.
The first part of the Corpus was the Codex. This was a collection of all the ordinances issued by previous emperors. Justinian's scholars had to discard duplicate, obsolete, or otherwise problematic laws in order to create a body of laws that were suitable for the Byzantine Empire as it existed in the 6th century CE. Later on, Justinian had to issue his own laws, called the Novellae Constitutiones, to augment the Codes. The Novellae are considered the fourth and final part of the Corpus.
The other two parts of the Corpus provided commentary and training in interpretation. The second part was called the Digesta. The Digesta was a massive compilation of selections from the commentaries of important jurists. This formed the basis for the interpretation of the laws. The third part was the Institutiones, which was a guide to using the Codex and Digesta.