Joannes Bassianus

Little is known of his origin, but he is said by his jurist contemporary Carolus de Tocco [it] to have been a native of Cremona.

The most important of his writings which have been preserved in his Summary on the Authentica, which Savigny regarded as one of the most precious works of the glossators.

[1] Joannes, as he is generally termed, was remarkable for his talent in inventing ingenious forms for explaining his ideas with greater precision, and perhaps his most celebrated work is his "Law-Tree," which he entitled Arbor Actionum, and which has been the subject of numerous commentaries.

The work presents a tree, upon the branches of which the various kinds of actions are arranged after the manner of fruit.

[1] A further scientific division of actions was made by him under twelve heads, and by an ingenious system of notation the student was enabled to class at once each of the civil or praetorian actions, as the case might be, under its proper head in the scientific division.