Imperial constitutions

There are four main forms of constitutions that were published in the era of the principle :

• edicts - general orders (the difference from the edicts of magistrates is that the latter contained programs of activity, while imperial edicts included decrees binding on all officials and the public);
• decrees - decisions in court cases;
• Rescripts - answers to questions addressed to emperors;
• mandates - guidelines for administrative and judicial officials.

During the dominance, the imperial edict remains the main form of law, since mandates cease to be issued, and decrees and rescripts are only valid in certain cases.

The need to unite the numerous and scattered imperial constitutions began to have political significance after the division of the empire into two halves at the end of the 3rd century. The unification was supposed to symbolize the unity of law in the political division of the state apparatus. However, codification was carried out by private individuals, as the government did not take such an initiative.

Code of Gregorian

In 295, the Gregorian Code was issued. Its author, Gregorian , collected in his work constitutions from Hadrian to modern ones. The original codex was not preserved, but fragments of it were included in a number of other monuments, such as “Fragmenta Vaticana” , “Collatio legum Mosaicarum et Romanarum” , “lex romana Visigothorum”, “lex romana Burgundiorum” . The Codex consists of 19 books, 13 of which follow the latest edition of the Praetor Edict system. Books, in turn, were divided into titles with subject headings, where the constitutions are listed in chronological order with the addressees and the time of publication ( inscriptio and subscriptio ). Books 14 through 19 deal with criminal law and the process. Until the Code of Justinian abolished it, the Code of Gregorian was influenced for the next two centuries.

Germogenian Code

After the year 295, the Germogenian Codex became an addition to the first meeting. The compiler revised the material three times, as a result of which most constitutions were carefully edited. 120 constitutions collected were divided by content into 69 titles without being combined into books. The system and order of titles are lost.

Codex Theodosius

Codex Theodosius - the first official compilation. The intention of the East Roman Emperor Theodosius II included the publication of a collection of imperial constitutions with the inclusion of “ ius, ” that is, the works of the classics. However, only imperial constitutions were collected, combined into 16 books, divided by subject titles. The Codex was sent to Rome and adopted by Valentinian III , co-ruler of Theodosius II. The assembly enjoyed authority in the West, in Gaul, a longer authority than in the East, where it was abolished by the Code of Justinian. The Code of Theodosius is preserved in manuscripts and reprinted at different times.

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• Pakhman S.V. History of the codification of civil law. Volume I. - St. Petersburg., 1876. - S. 14-28.
• Private Roman Law: A Textbook. Ed. I. B. Novitsky and I. S. Peretersky. - M. - S. 30-31.
• Silvestrova E.V. Lex generalis. The imperial constitution in the system of sources of Greco-Roman law of the 5th – 10th centuries n e. - M.: Indrik, 2007.