District of Pennsylvania, to wit: L. S. BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the twenty-fourth day of October, in the thirty-seventh year of the Independence of the United States of America, A. D. 1812, Patrick Byrne, of the said district, hath deposited in this office, the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words following to wit: Penn "The Institutes of Justinian. With Notes, by Thomas Coo"per, Esq. Professor of Chemistry, at Carlisle Colle "sylvania." In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, intitled," An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned."-And also to the act, intitled, "An Act supplementary to an Act, intituled, " An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned," and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints." D. CALDWELL, Glerk of the District of Pennsylvania. -21 PREFACE. WHEN I first undertook to publish Justinian's Institutes (that I might not entirely renounce my accustomed studies) I contemplated nothing more than a republication of Harris's Edition, which has now become scarce; together with some additional notes, and a brief history of Roman Jurisprudence, by way of preface. On reading with attention Harris's Translation, I found the language so verbose, that I sat down to translate the first Book of the Institutes in my own way. It is true, my ear was better satisfied with my own performance; but I found so many co-incidences of expression, and so little room to improve the fidelity of Harris's Version, that I determined to adopt it as the groundwork of the present publication; and alter it no further, than to condense the expressions where they seemed to me needlessly diffuse. By so doing, I have abridged it to the amount of about one fifth of the whole, without sacrificing any thing necessary to the sense. Some few periphrases I have retained, and some I have added, when the original seemed to require elucidation; but, upon the whole, my aim has been to render this a faithful translation in as few words as possible. Perhaps I may be blamed for taking this liberty with Dr. Harris's work. Had it been a piece of poetry, I should have left it untouched; but meaning to give to the public as good a translation as I could furnish, I saw no reason why I should needlessly occupy the time of the reader, or increase the bulk of the book, by religiously retaining all its redundancies and imperfections. I have inserted most of Harris's Notes, citing him where I have done so; but they are few and meagre. I have generally consulted the paraphrase of Theophilus, the short comments to the Corpus Juris Civilis of Gothofred, the translations and notes of Ferriere, Wood's Institutes, and Taylor's Elements of the Civil Law. I would gladly have procured, if I could, more sources of information, and I have taken much pains for that purpose, but in vain. The want of books has not been the only difficulty I have met with. All the notes and references I had collected, were consumed by fire on my road from Northumberland hither, last November. An accident afterwards deprived me of my eye-sight for about a week, and rendered exertion painful to me for a considerable time. I could ill spare these defalcations from the occasional leisure which my chemical lectures allowed me, but I have endeavoured to make the best use of the opportunities that remained. Unable to procure the books I sent for, I have declined for the present any history of the Roman law. Those who cannot resort to the more voluminous and laborious works enumerated in the appendix, may collect much useful knowledge from the shorter and more popular compilations of Ferriere, whose History of the Roman Law was translated by Dr. Beaver, and published in 1724 from Gibbon's eighth volume of his Roman History, and Butler's Horæ Juridicæ Subsecivæ: together with the Roman Antiquities of Kennet and Adams: all of them works of merit, and not scarce. A knowledge of the Civil Law, sufficient for the purposes of an American Lawyer, north of New-Orleans, may be obtained from Domat and Wood, and the Treatises of Drs. Ayloffe, Schomberg, Halifax and Browne: but neither Domat nor Wood, are superseded by any or all the rest. Indeed a condensed digest of the Civil Law, is yet a desideratum; which if the present publication should be approved of, I may be tempted to undertake. "The civilians of the darker ages," (says Gibbon, 8 Rom. Hist. 2.) "have established an absurd and incomprehensible mode of quotation, "which is supported by authority and custom. In their references to the "Code, the Pandects, and the Institutes, they mention the number, not of the book but only of the law, and content themselves with reciting "the first words of the Title to which it belongs: and of these titles "there are more than a thousand. Ludewig, (Vit. Justiniani, p. 268,) "wishes to shake off this pedantic yoke; and I have dared to adopt the "simple and rational method of numbering the book, title, and law." The English writers generally follow the mode of citation recommended by Gibbon, and as I think it the most convenient, I have also adopted it. Thus, Inst. 4. 15. 2, means, Institutes, book 4, title 15, section 2. Dig. 41. 9. 1. 3, means Digest, book 41, title 9, law 1, section 3, which the foreign jurists would cite thus, l. 1. § 3, or § 3. l. 1. Dig. pro dote: or ff pro dote: Dig. and ff being equivalent: that is, section 3 of law 1, of the book and title of the Digest or Pandects which is entitled pro dote. The two letters ff designate nothing but a careless mode of writing the Greek letter, the first letter of radera, Pandects, "General Receivers;" which was a common title of the Greek miscellanies. Plin. Præf. ad Hist. Natur., 8 Gibbon's Rom. Hist. p. 37. 76. So, D. or Dig. 18. 4. 2. 7, is the same with 7. 1. 2. Dig. (or ff) de hæredit, vel act. Or, the 7th section of the 2d law of the book and title of the Digest or Pandects, that begins De hæreditate vel actione vendita. In like manner, Cod. 7. 68. 2, means the 7th book, 68th title, and 2d law of the Justinian Code. The foreign writers would cite it, 1. 2. Cod. si unus ex pluribus appellaverit. In like manner Cod. 8. 32. 1. would be cited by the civilians on the continent of Europe, 1. 1. Cod. si unus ex pluribus heredibus creditoris, &c.; meaning the first law of the Codex that is entitled with those words. Again, l. 1. tit. 52. Cod. de his qui ante. I should cite thus, Cod. 6. 52. 1, meaning the 6th book, 52d title, and 1st law of the Justinian Code. It may be noted, that the Code, the Digest, and the Institutes, form one system; of which the Code was first compiled and published in the third year of Justinian. Then the Digest was compiled, and published |