" The jurists entrusted with this work were
also required to prepare an introductory book for students, as described
below. After the completion of the whole work Justinian issued (533-565)
many new statutes (Novellae) which were never officially collected, but
which came to be considered a part of the Corpus Juris. The main
divisions of the Body of Civil Law are--
(1) The Code, in twelve books, which contains statutes of the Emperors
from the third century A.D.
Since [says Justinian] we find the whole course of our statutes
... to be in a state of such confusion that they reach to an
infinite length and surpass the bounds of all human capacity, it
was therefore our first desire to make a beginning with the most
sacred Emperors of old times, to amend their statutes, and to put
them in a clear order, so that they might be collected together
in one book, and, being divested of all superfluous repetition
and most inequitable disagreement, might afford to all mankind
the ready resource of their unalloyed character.[25]
(2) The Digest, or Pandects, in fifty books, containing extracts from
the opinions of Roman lawyers on a great variety of legal questions.
This work was also undertaken to bring order and harmony out of the
prevailing confusion:
We have entrusted the entire task to Tribonianus, a most
distinguished man, Master of the Offices, ex-quaestor of our
sacred palace, and ex-consul, and we have laid on him the whole
service of the enterprise described, so that with other
illustrious and learned colleagues he might fulfil our desire.
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