What is Corpus Juris Civilis?
[[File:Corpus juris civilis (1663).jpg|thumb|A page from a print of 1663.]] The '''Corpus Iuris Civilis''' (sometimes also called '''Corpus Juris Civilis''') is a collection of [[Law|laws]] regarding [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] [[civil law]]. It was first compiled in the 6th century, during the reign of [[Justinian I|Iustinan I]]. After the fall of the [[Roman Empire|Roman empire]] it was mostly forgotten. It was re-discovered in the 11th century. During the [[Middle Ages]] it was an important source of civil law for most countries in Europe. The corpus juris civilis has several parts: * Institutiones Iustiniani: a work to teach about law, which was published with the corpus. Not to be confused with the Institutiones Gai, by Gaius * ''Digest'' (Roman law): a summary of Roman law which was valid at the time * Codex Iustinianus: a collection of laws by Iustinian (2nd century) which were still in use * Novellae: Imperial laws, most of them in Ancient Greek. There was a Latin version, but it was lost for most texts. {{history-stub}} [[Category:Ancient Roman law]] [[Category:6th-century books]]