Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

258 9. roman law
belong the lectures on the Digest by Cyrillus and an earlier anonymous
writer. 112 Theodorus Scholasticus from Hermopolis, who was a leading
advocate, left comments on the Codex and Novels in the post-Justinianic
period. He probably lectured in Constantinople on a part-time basis. 113
All these texts on Justinian’s corpus, presumably dictated to students by
the lecturer, were short and modest, some of them very short. They do not
compare with the wealth of learning in the Sinaitic scholia, which make many
citations of classical juristic literature and imperial constitutions. Justinian
had indeed forbidden recourse to the earlier materials, as well as criticism
of his own. In particular he had outlawed commentaries and allowed only
literal translations (κατ� π�δας), brief surveys of contents (indices) and
observations on passages relevant to a given title (παρα´ τιτλα) or a given
text (παραποµπαί or παραγραφαί ). The Byzantine lawyers did not keep
strictly within these constraints. Many indices are free restatements of the
texts, and numerous expositions, especially those of Stephanus, are
nothing if not commentaries based on the familiar blend of doctrine and
exegesis.
vii. continuity, vulgarization, classicism
The development of the law in the Roman empire between 425 and 600 did
not follow a simple linear path. At the beginning of the period there was a
phase in which the main task was to unite the law inherited from the classical
past with the more recent imperial law. This phase is represented in
the west by the enactment relating to the sources of law and in the east by
the Codex Theodosianus, and it reflects the presence once again of increasing
numbers of jurists in the administration. That then leads to a remarkable
improvement in the level of legal science, especially in Beirut but also in
Constantinople, Rome and Narbonne.
The level of legal scholarship finally presented Justinian with the opportunity
to overhaul and restore the law in all its aspects. And that mighty
project was in turn bound to enhance the role of law in social life. The finds
of papyri in Egypt show that documents recording legal transactions were
few and far between in the fifth century but that the number once again
increased greatly in the sixth, especially from the beginning of Justinian’s
reign. After his death the evidence of dynamic legal science falls back, as
also of the further advancement of the law and of individuals having
recourse to law to resolve their disputes.
Between the 1920s and the 1960s the view was taken, especially among
German scholars, that long before the collapse of the western empire into
112 Sontis (1937). New evidence ed. Burgmann (1986).
113 Pieler (1978) 436; van der Wal and Lokin (1985) 57f., 128f.
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