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Justinian I : Institutiones Imperiales

J. Petit, Paris, c. 1516

Contemporary full calf, floral blind-tooled motifs within multiple blind-tooled borders, spine expertly rebacked in 5 compartments of raised bands and blind-tooled floral motifs, endpapers renewed. , Lacks leaf 145 (Davies calls for 165 leaves in total, of which we have 164), title leaf with professional restoration along the upper and fore margins, tear in lower margin of leaf 34 with professional restoration, marginalia in period hand throughout; otherwise a very good copy, text is generally clean and crisp., 4to, Foliation. 16 ff., 1-144, 146-149 ff., . Title in red and black with a printer's device containing two unicorns supporting a shield against a tree. Elaborate head and tail pieces throughout. Two very fine engravings, one of which being, “Justinian in council” with some early hand colouring, the other being a full page woodcut of the “Arbor Civilus” in red and black. The text is printed in red and black in Gothic font.

Text in Latin.
Primary text in the centre of each page, with commentary on all sides.
Justinian I was the Byzantine emperor (full name Flavius Petrus Sabgatius Justinianus, 527-565) who extended Byzantine rule in the West, beautified Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), and completed the codification of Roman law. Justinian had the legal code of ancient Rome codified; it formed the basis for many modern systems of civil law. He envisaged a centralized empire requiring a uniform legal system, setting in motion a ten-year imperial commission that collected and systematized existing Roman law, as well as rectified administrative abuses. Their work, under the seal of the esteemed jurist Trebonianus, was incorporated in 534 as the Corpus Juris Civilis (the "body of civil law"), known today as the Justinian Code. It was updated periodically with the addition of new decrees, known as Novellae. This formidable legislative codification still remains the basis for the law of most European countries.
, Davies 297

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