The Codex of Justinian. A New Annotated Translation, with Parallel Latin and Greek Text. Volume 1: Introductory Matter and Books I–III. Volume 2: Books IV–VII. Volume 3: Books VIII–XII ed. by Bruce W. Frier et al. (review)

Justinian's lawyers took less than seven years (from February 13, 528 to November 16, 534) to produce a first version of the Codex, the Digest, the Institutes, and a second version of the Codex. This second Codex, authoritatively reconstructed from various sources both Greek and Latin by Paul Krüger in the nineteenth century, has now received an equally authoritative translation in this massive trio of volumes produced by ten respected scholars of Roman law led by Bruce Frier. And although the creation of Frier's Codex was fast (less than ten years), its origins go back to 1919, when Justice Fred H. Blume of the Wyoming Supreme Court undertook the massive task of translating this complex and difficult text. He did so, with care and accuracy; but his translation was left in manuscript at his death in 1971. It was rediscovered in the library of the University of Wyoming Law School, made available to Frier and his colleagues, and, somewhat revised, provides the basis for the present edition.

In Frier's edition, the translation itself (with laconic but very helpful annotation) appears on the right-hand page, facing the Latin and Greek text taken from Krüger's ninth edition of 1914; the text has not been modified, but a telegraphic apparatus identifies nearly 200 places where the translation has followed a different reading. The annotation also discusses in some detail problems of dating individual fragments. The text and translation are preceded by a full list of the titles, with translation; an introduction to Justice Blume's work by Timothy Kearley; one on the revision of Blume's translation by Frier; and a superb account of the Codex and its history by Simon Corcoran. At the end there is an excellent glossary of Roman law terms and (from Krüger, but with addenda) a chronological list of the constitutions included in the Codex. The whole is printed in a clear and readable font (both Latin and Greek), and in what I have read (a sampling of titles from all twelve books) I have found very few mistakes.

The Codex is, at least for the nonspecialist, the most difficult and remote of legal texts. While the Digest contains fragments of jurists going back to the late Republic and extending to the early third century, the Codex consists entirely of legal statements emanating from the emperors themselves, the vast majority from the reigns of Diocletian and later, with many by Justinian (or Tribonian) himself. Organized into a dozen books, with fragments arranged in strict chronological order within each title, the Codex feels far more fragmented and abrupt than comparable titles of the Digest. The latter are often structured within and around Ulpian's commentary on the Edict, and at least sometimes they form a single (if mosaic-like) discussion of a particular topic; the Codex subordinates logic to chronology. Some titles go on for great distances, including a range of related topics, but following chronology in jumping back and forth from one to another. It is not an easy book to read.

The translation itself is impressive; the technical terminology of law is very carefully translated, and where literalism is impossible, the Latin phrase is repeated in parentheses within the translation for clarity; technical passages are often annotated, and the glossary at the end generally supplies...