Every year or, according to
Procopius, each day of his long reign was marked by some legal
innovation. Many of his acts were rescinded by himself; many were
rejected by his successors; many have been obliterated by time; but the
number of sixteen _Edicts_ and one hundred and sixty-eight _Novels_ has
been admitted into the authentic body of the civil jurisprudence. In the
opinion of a philosopher superior to the prejudices of his profession,
these incessant and, for the most part, trifling alterations, can be
only explained by the venal spirit of a prince who sold without shame
his judgments and his laws.
Monarchs seldom condescend to become the preceptors of their subjects;
and some praise is due to Justinian, by whose command an ample system
was reduced to a short and elementary treatise. Among the various
institutes of the Roman law those of Caius were the most popular in the
East and West; and their use may be considered as an evidence of their
merit. They were selected by the imperial delegates, Tribonian,
Theophilus, and Dorotheus, and the freedom and purity of the Antonines
were incrusted with the coarser materials of a degenerate age.
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