Codex Theodosianus
A commission was established by Emperor Theodosius II and his co-emperor Valentinian III on 26 March 429[1][2] and the compilation was published by a constitution of 15 February 438.
[8] Their product was a collection of 16 books containing more than 2,500 constitutions issued between 313 and 437, while, at the same time, omitting obsolete provisions and superfluous phrases, and making additions, emendations, and alterations.
Clifford Ando notes that according to Matthews, the editors "displayed a reliance on western provincial sources through the late 4th century and on central, eastern archives thereafter.
Boudewijn Sirks believes that "the code was compiled from imperial copy books found at Constantinople, Rome, or Ravenna, supplemented by material at a few private collections, and that the delays were caused by such problems as verifying the accuracy of the text and improving the legal coherence of the work.
"[14] The tone of the work reflected the rhetorical training that the drafters had received, and Averil Cameron has described it as "verbose, moralizing and pretentious".
[16] It was also concerned with the imposition of orthodoxy – the Arian controversy was ongoing – within the Christian religion and contains 65 decrees directed at heretics.
Matthews observes, "The Theodosian Code does, however, differ from the work of Justinian (except the Novellae), in that it was largely based not on existing juristic writings and collections of texts, but on primary sources that had never before been brought together.
Lenski quotes Matthews as noting that the "imperial constitutions represented not only prescriptive legal formulas but also descriptive pronouncements of an emperor's moral and ideological principles".
[20] Apart from clearing up confusion and creating a single, simplified, and supersedent code, Theodosius II also attempted to solidify Christianity as the Empire's official religion after it had been decriminalised under Galerius' rule and promoted under Constantine's.
[22][23] The first laws granting tax exemption to the church appear in the Codex and are credited to Constantine and his son Constantius II.
[26] The reference edition of the Codex Theodosianus is: The Theodosian Code was translated into English, with annotations, in 1952 by Clyde Pharr, Theresa Sherrer Davidson, and others.
