Codex Theodosianus

The Codex Theodosianus ("Theodosian Code") is a compilation of the laws of the Roman Empire made by the Christian emperors from 311 A.D. until 437 A.D. A commission was established by Emperor Theodosius II and his co-emperor Valentinian III on 26 March 429 and the compilation was published by a constitution of 15 February 438. It went into force in the eastern and western parts of the empire on 1 January 439. About one-quarter of the original text of the codex is also found in the Breviary of Alaric (also called Lex Romana Visigothorum), promulgated on 2 February 506 by Visigoth King Alaric II. On 26 March 429, Emperor Theodosius II announced to the Senate of Constantinople his intention to form a committee to codify all of the laws (leges, singular lex) from the reign of Constantine up to Theodosius II and Valentinian III. The laws in the code span from 311 to 438, so by 438 the "volume of imperial law had become unmanageable". Twenty-two scholars, working in two teams, worked for nine years starting in 429 to assemble what was to become the Theodosian Code. The chief overseer of the work was Antiochus Chuzon, a lawyer and a prefect and consul from Antioch. Their product was a collection of 16 books containing more than 2,500 constitutions issued between 311 and 437, while, at the same time, omitting obsolete provisions and superfluous phrases, and making additions, emendations, and alterations. John F. Matthews illustrated the importance of Theodosius' code when he said, "the Theodosian Code was the first occasion since the Twelve Tables on which a Roman government had attempted by public authority to collect and publish its leges." The code covers political, socioeconomic, cultural, and religious subjects of the 4th and 5th centuries in the Roman Empire.