Authenticum

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Justinian law collection of the Authenticum in the version of the editor Dionysius Gothofredus from the year 1614

The so-called Authenticum (also: liber Authenticorum ) is a Latin collection of laws from Emperor Justinian . It contains the so-called Novellae , which concluded the emperor's general conception of law and which became an important part of Byzantine legislation . It contains 134 unabridged laws and a large part of the decrees from the years 535 to 556. 18 novellas are originally written in Latin . 116 other short stories were originally written in Greek and have been translated into Latin. The authors of the Greek texts are unknown.

The (translation) work is attributed to Julian, a law teacher ( antecessor ) who worked in Beirut and Constantinople and who was noticed as the author of further summae , epitomae and a novella index . He was a native Greek speaker. After the revision of the Codex Iustinianus in November 534, laws were mainly issued in the Greek language, which is why a special feature of the collection is that the Greek now appear in a (back) translation into Latin. The transfer was probably a product of the legal education of his time, because it was carried out while maintaining the word order and sequence ( kata poda ), which in legal texts usually took place ad verbum . Latinizations of individual words were written over the Greek original text, only frequently recurring “conjunctions” or forms of “being” were not taken into account.

For the Latins in the empire , a parallel work was created almost at the same time, the Epitome Juliani , also in Latin ( constitutiones novellae Justiniani de graeco in Latinum translate per Julianum, virum eloquentissimum, antecessorem civitatis Constantinopolitanae ) with appendices. Essentially identical in content, this compilation also contained the constitutions of Emperor Justinian. Almost the same period of his edicts was covered, namely from 535 to 555. It contained 124 novels, after deducting two duplications 122. Otherwise, a collection of Greek novels was created under the Latin native speaker Justinian, which was completed under Emperor Tiberios II and - unadjusted of duplicates - Contained 168 pieces. The research assumes that this collection of short stories - presumably located in Constantinople - either faded out what was written in Latin or, in the process of reversing the Authenticum and the Epitome Juliani , reproduced it in Greek. In any case, the area of ​​distribution served as the Greek East claimed in the turmoil of the Great Migration (Constantinople, Greece, Egypt, Syria and Asia Minor). Illyrian additions were introduced into the Authenticum , which is why research sometimes assumed that the transcriptions were actually made in Illyria .

Presumably, the drafting of the text of the Authenticum goes back to the imperial chancellery or the praefectus praetorio . The draft was written in Greek, probably because such a basis could assert itself. Whether Justinian personally worked on the novellas remains open; In any case, it was the job of the Quaestor sacri palatii to formulate laws. Justinian had abolished the office of Quaestor sacri palatii for Westrom shortly before.

From the 7th century onwards, hardly anyone in Ostrom understood Latin, which is why the Authenticum was forgotten. Certainly due to the discovery of the most important digest manuscript to date, the Littera Florentina , interest in the ancient codifications returned from the middle of the 12th century with the glossators around Irnerius of Bologna . The first receptors of Roman law could not fall back on the novellae , since they did not understand Greek ( graeca non leguntur ) and instead used the Authenticum for posterity. Using their own theoretical methodology, they examined the texts for contradictions, examined legal problems and discussed or commented on them. The Authenticum , so named because it was assumed that it was an official compilation and therefore commanded by Justinian, was used for further processing in the context of legal lessons. The Justinian legislation was seen as a unified whole and included in the five-part Corpus iuris civilis (in the 12th century still called Corpus iuris ), in the fifth part, next to the Institutiones Iustiniani of the emperor and the last three books of his Codex , the Authenticum Platz found.

expenditure

literature

  • Max Conrat (Cohn): History of the sources and literature of Roman law in the early Middle Ages . Hinrichs, Leipzig 1891, pp. 132-137 ( digitized version ); on this, the review by Ernst Landsberg . In: Critical quarterly for legislation and jurisprudence . Volume 34 = NF Volume 15, 1892, p. 136 f.
  • Wolfgang Kaiser : Authenticity and validity of late antique imperial laws (= Munich contributions to papyrus research and antique legal history. Issue 96). Beck, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-55121-5 , p. 251 ff.
  • Detlef Liebs : Jurisprudence in late antique Italy (260-640 AD) (= Freiburg legal-historical treatises. New series, volume 8). Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1987, pp. 266-269.
  • Karl Eduard Zachariae von Lingenthal : On the history of the Authenticum and the Epitome Novellarum of the antecessor Julianus. In: Meeting report of the Berlin Academy of Sciences , 1882, p. 995 ff.
  • Martin Schanz , Carl Hosius : History of Roman literature. Fourth part, 2nd volume: The literature of the fifth and sixth centuries. CH Beck, Munich 1920, ISBN 3-406-01398-8 , p. 184 ff.

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b c Detlef Liebs : The jurisprudence in late antique Italy (260-640 AD) (= Freiburg legal-historical treatises. New series, volume 8). Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1987, pp. 266-269.
  2. ↑ Detlef Liebs: The jurisprudence in late antique Italy (260-640 AD) (= Freiburg legal-historical treatises. New series, volume 8). Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1987, p. 220 ff.
  3. ^ Wolfgang Kaiser : Authenticity and Validity of Late Antique Imperial Laws (= Munich contributions to papyrus research and antique legal history. Issue 96). Beck, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-55121-5 , p. 251 ff.
  4. ↑ a b c Martin Schanz , Carl Hosius : History of Roman literature. Fourth part, 2nd volume: The literature of the fifth and sixth centuries. CH Beck, Munich 1920, ISBN 3-406-01398-8 , p. 184 ff. ( Online ).
  5. ^ Max Conrat (Cohn): History of the sources and literature of Roman law in the early Middle Ages . Hinrichs, Leipzig 1891, p. 137; he follows here: Friedrich August Biener : History of the novellas of Justinian. Berlin 1824, pp. 260-261 ( digitized version ).
  6. ^ Franz Wieacker : History of private law in the modern age. Taking into account the German development. 2nd edition, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1967. pp. 124 ff. (134).