Justinian's Corpus Juris Civilis and Its Afterlife

In the 6th century, the Eastern Roman emperor Justinian (r. 527–565) ordered a massive codification of Roman law, directed by the jurist Tribonian. The project produced the Code (529, revised 534), a collection of imperial laws; the Digest (533), which condensed centuries of jurists' writings into 50 books; the Institutes (533), a textbook for students; and later the Novels, new laws. Justinian claimed the Digest reduced nearly 2,000 books to a manageable size.

After fading in Western Europe, the Digest was rediscovered and studied in Bologna from the late 11th century, helping create the first European law school and the profession of trained lawyers. Its concepts shaped canon law and the 'civil law' systems of continental Europe, including France's Napoleonic Code of 1804, which in turn influenced Latin America and beyond. Roman law thus became one of the most widespread intellectual legacies of the ancient world.