The ''Praetor's Edict'' Soon after 125, the emperor Hadrian appointed Julianus to collect and revise all the
edicta praetorum or
Praetors' Edicts available. For centuries each incoming
praetor urbanus had issued these annual edicts, which announced his legal positions for the next year. "The contents of the praetorian Edict can be summed up as constituting the praetor's programme of office: he is announcing to the public, at the beginning of his term, how he intends to exercise his office." For centuries, until the end of the
Republic (to 44 BC), this document had been a most influential and pervasive legal authority in
Roman law. By the 2nd century, however, the Praetor's Edict merely might adopt novel procedures to enforce new legislation made elsewhere, e.g., by imperial enactment. In a
senatus consultum, Hadrian directed that the revision by Iulianus thereafter be made perpetual. Professor Michael Grant writes that his revision proved to be of some use to the poor. Another scholar writes, "The Edict, that masterpiece of republican jurisprudence, became stabilized. ... By order of [Hadrian] the famous jurist Julian settled the final form of the praetorian and
aedilician Edicts." Yet our sources for this major reform are "meagre and late", so that it "is difficult to tell what Julianus in fact did." A key feature of the Praetor's Edict was its organisational scheme, the order in which the various subjects of the law are presented. This sequence had obviously "grown up gradually from one generation to another. How far Julian's final redaction departs from the hitherto traditional arrangement we have not the means of judging save in some exceptional cases." Nonetheless, certain changes in the Edict wrought by Julianus are well known, e.g., regarding
intestate succession, that affecting shares of inheritance among children in the
Bonorum possessio unde liberi. Moreover, his other alterations do not seem problematic. It was this received "edictal order of topics" that was already widely used in juristic works of the Principate, during the classical period of Roman Law. Among Roman jurists, "Julian's work on the Edict was traditionally regarded as of great importance [as] he is repeatedly spoken of as
compositor,
conditor,
ordinator of the Edict."
His Digesta in 90 books Of his own writings, his principal work was the
Digesta, a systematic treatise on civil and praetorian law which was often cited by Roman legal writers. “It is a comprehensive collection of
responsa on real and hypothetical cases; in general, it followed the edictal system.” The works of Iulianus, in particular his
Digesta, "are among the most highly appreciated products of Roman juristic literature." "Even in the more theoretical works, such as Julian's...
Digesta, case law is dominant, and no attempt is made to translate the cases into abstract principles." This literature, however, does employ "casuistical form" rather than "simply strung together"
responsa. "[P]roblems are considered from the point of view of general theory, with the result that imagined cases play a considerable, perhaps even a predominant, part. But even so, a plain statement of the theoretical result of the cases, a formulation of the principle to be deduced from them, is avoided." Other scholars remark on the ascendancy that his writings earned Julianus. According to Prof. Buckland, his presence worked to transcend the opposing schools or sects of Roman law which had continued for several centuries. Prof. Sohm states: "His vast acquaintance with practical case-law, the ingenuity of his own countless decisions, his genius for bringing out, in each separate case, the general rule of law which, tersely and pithily put, strikes the mind with all the force of a brilliant aphorism and sheds its light over the whole subject around--these are the features which constitute the power of his work. Roman jurisprudence had completed its dialectic training under
Labeo and
Sabinus, and the time had now arrived for applying to the immense mass of materials the principles, categories, and points of view that had been thus worked out. Julian's
Digest exhibited Roman jurisprudence in all its strength, and its success was proportionately great. ... From the time of Salvius Julianus, and as a consequence of his labors, there was but one jurisprudence, and the lines on which it was progressing were those marked out by him." The purpose of his
Digesta was to expound the whole of Roman law. "It contains a collection of
responsa of the most varied kinds: answers by letter, answers in disputations (to be inferred when the answer is introduced by
dixi), true
responsa in the technical sense, and answers to questions which occurred to the author in the course of theoretical speculation."
Other works It is known that "Julianus also wrote commentaries on works of two earlier, [now] little known jurists, Urseius Felix [
Urseius, 4 books] and Minicius [
Minicius, 6 books], and a booklet
De ambiguitatibus [On doubtful questions]."
Excerpts in Corpus Juris Civilis Following are short quotations of Julianus (c. 110 – c. 170) presented, chiefly from his
Digesta, also from his
Minicius and his
Urseius, taken from among Julian's hundreds found in the
Corpus Juris Civilis (Byzantium 533), as commissioned and promulgated by the Emperor
Justinian I (r.527–565), namely, in that part of the
Corpus called the
Digesta Iustiniani, in 50 books. These quotations are translated here by
Alan Watson as
The Digest of Justinian, published by the
University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia 1985), two volumes. Traditional
Digest citation (book, chapter, source) follows the quotation. •
libri 7 digestorum: "If the seller has misrepresented the condition of a farm but not its measurements, he is still liable to the buyer; for example, suppose he said there were fifty
jugera of vineyard and fifty of meadow, and the meadow is found to be larger but there are one hundred
jugera in all." 19.1.22 •
libri 13 digestorum: "When we indeed agree on the thing delivered but differ over the grounds of delivery, I see no reason why the delivery should not be effective. ... Again, if I give you coined money as a gift and you receive it as a loan, it is settled law that the fact that we disagree on the grounds of delivery and acceptance is no barrier to the transfer of ownership to you." 41.1.36 •
libri 15 digestorum: "It is not possible for every point to be specifically dealt with either in statutes or in
senatus consulta; but whenever in any case their sense is clear, the president of the tribunal ought to proceed by analogical reasoning and declare the law accordingly." 1.3.12 •
libri 27 digestorum: "We cannot follow a
rule of law in instances where there has been a decision against the
ratio juris. 1.3.15 [Here, the latin text at the top of the article:
In his, quae contra rationem iuris constituta sunt, non possumus sequi regulam iuris.] •
libri 54 digestorum: "The nature of a cavil, which the Greeks call
sorites, is this, that the argument leads by short steps from what is evidently true to what is evidently false." 50.17.65 •
libri 59 digestorum: "[A] person conceived after his grandfather's death can neither take the estate on the latter's intestacy as
suus heres nor receive
bonorum possessio as cognate relative, because the
Law of the Twelve Tables calls to the inheritance a person who has been alive at the time of the death of the man whose property is in question." 38.16.6 •
libri 84 digestorum: "Age-encrusted custom is not undeservedly cherished as having almost statutory force, and this is the kind of law which is said to be established by use and wont. For given that statutes themselves are binding upon us for no other reason than that they have been accepted by the judgment of the populace, certainly it is fitting that what the populace has accepted without any writing shall be binding upon everyone. What does it matter whether the people declares its will by voting or by the very substance of its actions? Accordingly, it is absolutely right to accept the point that statutes may be repealed not only by vote of the legislature but also by the silent agreement of everyone expressed through desuetude." 1.3.32:1 •
libri 88 digestorum: "Whenever anyone stipulates for oil under a time clause or other condition, its value ought to be assessed when the obligation vests; for from that moment it can be sued for. If it is otherwise, the loss is the debtor's." 45.1.59 •
libri 6 minicius: "If it is agreed that a landlord should not bring an action against a tenant and there was a lawful ground for the agreement, the tenant nevertheless can bring an action against the landlord." 2.14.56 •
libri 3 urseius ferax: "A man agreed to buy land from one who had mortgaged it to a third party, provided that the vendor discharged the encumbrance before the first of July. The question was whether the purchaser could effectively bring the action on purchase to require the vendor to redeem the land. The reply was: Let us consider what was agreed between the parties. If their agreement was that come what may, the vendor should redeem the land before the first of July, the action on purchase will lie for its redemption and the sale will not be regarded as conditional, as though the purchaser said, 'I will buy the land, if you redeem it by the first of July' or 'provided that you redeem it in that time from Titius.' But if the purchase were made under condition, there will be no action to get the condition realized." 18.1.41 ==Influence and legacy==