The Theodosian Code: Studies in the Imperial Law of Late Antiquity

The Theodosian Code, one of the two great imperial law-books of late antiquity, was put together at the order of the Roman Emperor at Constantinople, Theodosius II, and issued in AD 438. The product of an era of autocracy and intellectual renewal, it contained extracts of imperial legislation from Constantine (306-387) to the mid-430s on topics ranging from orders of precedence, to the law of succession, to the newly-powerful Christian Church, and was to have a major influence on the transmission of Roman law in Western Europe. Although the importance of the Code for the history of late antiquity has long been recognised, its ornate style has caused its significance as a lawbook to be undervalued, and it has suffered by comparison with its sixth-century successor, the Code of Justinian. The essays in this book present an interdisciplinary analysis of the problems of the text, the working of law in practice in late antiquity and the afterlife of the Code down to Mommsen's great edition. The first study in English of the text in its own right, it will be essential reading for all concerned with the history of the late Roman world and the evolution of post-classical law. --- Jill Harries is Lecturer in Ancient History at the University of St. Andrews. Ian Wood is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Leeds.