The Impact of Code of Justinian in Byzantine Empire

Justinian was the emperor of the Byzantine Empire, ruled from 527 to 565. He was best known for his work as a legislator and codifier. Justinian Code was the foundation for the Byzantine legal system which was for nine hundred years. Justinian code was written by the Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, Justinian. He made these laws to structure his empire, to reorganize the government of Byzantine Empire. He has written the laws and made sure to minimize conflicts, increase accountability and reduce corruption in his empire. So he gave this body of laws a name called Justinian Code. Justinian’s committees of jurists provided two reference works containing collections of the past and extracted the opinions from the great Roman jurists. The significance of the code of Justinian was not only a new legal code, but it also helped in rationalizing hundreds of years of existing Roman statutes. It helped in removing conflicts and contradictions and some existing laws were repealed which were not included in the Code of Justinian. The Justinian code consists of four books: Codex Constitutional, Digesta or Pandectae, Institutiones and Novellae Constitutiones Post Codice. These Code of Justinian is still important as the Roman law provided the foundation for the civil law and increased the legal certainty. It became the authoritative source of law to be followed strictly in the Roman Empire. This Justinian code impacted the Byzantine Empire by increasing legal certainty with increasing responses towards entering the contract, filing a lawsuit, breaking it, inheriting or divorcing. It made easy for filing lawsuits to enforce certain laws and increase the confidence of the public to follow those laws strictly. This also made easy to predict the case or situation in the society after legal certainty was induced. It also made easy to plan for the future to stabilize the economy and the people.