Justinien

1572 · D4701 — Venice: F. Rampazeto 1572. Hardcover. Very Good. 8vo 175 x 120mm. 48 366pp. Signatures: a-f 8; A-YY 8; ZZ 8 -ZZ7-8 blank. Woodcut printer’s device on title of basilisk fighting a bird with motto “Terrena coelestibus obsunt;” in an architectural frame and woodcut historiated headpiece woodcut vignette beginning book of the Institutiones; on leaf 212r a full-page representation of the “arbor civilis.” Text is all-around gloss; printed in black and red. Dedicatory letter of H. Messaggius to Senator Federicus Baduarius prelim. leafs 2 is dated 1558. Period vellum three raised bands; leaves slightly offset slightly browned; hinge cracked at rear some quires loose rear pastedown glue-stained. The Corpus Iuris Civilis or the Justinian Code was the result of Emperor Justinian’s desire that existing Roman law be collected into a simple and clear system of laws or “code.” Tribonian a legal minister under Justinian lead a group of scholars in an effort to codify existing Roman law. The result was the first Justinian Code completed in 529. This code was later expanded to include Justinian’s own laws as well as two additional books on areas of the law. In 534 the Justinian Code made up of the Code the Digest and the Institutes was completed. Justinian’s collections were in ancient times always copied separately and afterwards they were printed in the same way. This part of the Institutiones falls under the whole Corpus Iuris Civilis is an early example before the unification under this heading. The present name of Justinian’s codification was only adopted in the 16th century when it was printed in 1583 by Dionysius Gothofredus. The legal thought behind the Corpus Juris Civilis served as the backbone of the single largest law reform of the modern age the Napoleonic Code which marked the abolition of feudalism. <br/><br/> [F. Rampazeto] hardcover