Tribonian was born in Pamphylia around the year 500. He became a successful lawyer in Constantinople, and was appointed by Justinian in 528 as one of the commissioners to prepare the new imperial legal code, the Corpus Juris Civilis, released in 529. In 530 he became quaestor, and the chief editor of the commentaries on the old Roman, which in total were much larger than the code itself. The brief version of the new code, the Digest or Pandects, containing the most relevant and useful parts of the code, was released in 533. While this was being completed the participants in the Nika riots of 532 for unknown reasons called for his removal. He was temporarily removed by Justinian until the riots were crushed. In 534 the full Codex Justinianus was released, along with a series of new laws created by Justinian to reflect contemporary needs (the Novellae). His life is recounted in the writings of Procopius.
Two great enterprises had substantially despatched Justinian’s work; however, he, or rather Tribonian, who seems to have acted both as his adviser and as his chief executive officer in all legal affairs, conceived that a third book was needed, viz.
Justinian accordingly directed Tribonian, with two coadjutors, Theophilus, professor of law in the university of Constantinople, and Dorotheus, professor in the great law school at Berytus, to prepare an elementary textbook on the lines of Gaius.
Such merits as it possesses – simplicity of arrangement, clearness and conciseness of expression – belong less to Tribonian than to Gaius, who was closely followed wherever the alterations in the law had not made him obsolete.
Feeds |
Contact