Gaius (jurist)

From internal evidence in his works it may be gathered that he flourished in the reigns of the emperors Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius and Commodus.

After his death, however, his writings were recognized as of great authority, and the emperor Theodosius II named him in the Law of Citations, along with Papinian, Ulpian, Modestinus and Paulus, as one of the five jurists whose opinions were to be followed by judicial officers in deciding cases.

[1] Besides the Institutes, which are a complete exposition of the elements of Roman law, Gaius was the author of treatises on the Edicts of the Magistrates, on the Twelve Tables (Ad Legem XII Tabularum), on the important Lex Papia Poppaea, and on several other topics.

In the disputes between the two schools of Roman jurists he generally attached himself to that of the Sabinians, who were said to be followers of Ateius Capito, of whose life we have some account in the Annals of Tacitus, and to advocate a strict adherence as far as possible to ancient rules, and to resist innovation.

Many quotations from the works of Gaius occur in the Digest, created by Tribonian at the direction of Justinian I, and so acquired a permanent place in the system of Roman law; while a comparison of the Institutes of Justinian with those of Gaius shows that the whole method and arrangement of the later work were copied from that of the earlier, and very numerous passages are word for word the same.

Probably, for the greater part of the period of three centuries which elapsed between Gaius and Justinian, his Institutes had been the familiar textbook for all students of Roman law.

[1] The Institutes of Gaius, written about the year AD 161, was an introductory textbook of legal institutions divided into four books:[2] the first treating of persons and the differences of the status they may occupy in the eye of the law; the second of things, and the modes in which rights over them may be acquired, including the law relating to wills; the third of intestate succession and of obligations; and the fourth of actions and their forms.

[1] In the 1950s, the Polish-American sculptor Joseph Kiselewski was commissioned to create four marble reliefs located over the gallery doorway at the Chambers of the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington D.C.