A Sourcebook on Byzantine Law

Daphne Penna, Ph.D. (2012), University of Groningen, is Assistant Professor of Legal History at that university. Her interests are Roman and Byzantine law, and particularly their influence on the European legal tradition; she has published extensively on this area. Roos Meijering, Ph.D. (1987), University of Groningen, was Assistant Professor of Legal History at that same university until her retirement in 2017. Meijering’s publications include articles on Byzantine law, commentaries and critical editions of Byzantine legal sources.

Preface

List of Figures and Maps

Abbreviations

General Note on the Bibliography



1 The Sources of Law before the Time of Justinian

 1 Introduction

 2 A Brief Summary of the Sources of Roman Law

 3 Teaching Law before the time of Justinian

 4 Select Bibliography



2 The Time of Justinian

 1 Justinian’s Legislation

 2 Teaching Law in the Time of Justinian

 3 Contemporary Writings for More Practical Purposes



3 From the End of the Sixth Century up to and including the Iconoclastic Period

 1 End of the Sixth Century: the scholastikoi

 2 Athanasios of Emessa

 3 Theodoros of Hermoupolis

 4 ‘The Seventh Century’: ‘The Anonymos Junior’

 5 ‘The Seventh Century’: Early Legal Treatises—De actionibus and Rhopai

 6 The Ecloga

 7 The Farmer’s Law and the Military Law

 8 The Rhodian Sea Law

 9 Select Bibliography



4 Macedonian Renaissance

 1 Introduction

 2 The Prochiron and the Eisagoge

 3 The Basilica Puzzle

 4 The Novels of Leo VI the Wise

 5 The Prefect’s Book (Eparchikon biblion)

 6 The ‘Old’ Basilica Scholia

 7 The Synopsis maior Basilicorum and the Legal Lexica

 8 Select Bibliography



5 From the Eleventh Century up To 1453

 1 The ‘New’ Basilica Scholia

 2 Recognising ‘Old’ and ‘New’ Basilica Scholia

 3 The Ponema Nomikon, Tipoukeitos and the Synopsis legum

 4 The Peira

 5 The Ecloga Basilicorum

 6 The Novel of Manuel on Procedure

 7 The Decisions and Statements of Chomatenos

 8 The Hexabiblos by Harmenopoulos

 9 Select Bibliography



6 Canon Law

 1 A Brief Outline of Byzantine Canon Law and Some Basic Terms

 2 A Scheme of Canon Law: The Sources of Byzantine Canon Law until the Twelfth Century

 3 The Canonists of the Twelfth Century

 4 Byzantine Civil and Canon Law concerning Interest on Debts

 5 Select Bibliography



Appendix: A Schematic Approach to the Sources of Byzantine Law and Their Relations to Roman Law

Index of Sources

Index of Personal Names

Index of Place names

Index of Terms