The Eastern Roman Empire was an important power in the Mediterranean and in the west. The actions of this country impacted the entire landmass and even has its impact on society up to this very day. One of the important actions of the empire was Justinian’s campaign of reconquest in the west.
The Eastern Roman Empire became known as the Byzantine Empire. It was a vast empire that included, Albania, Bosnia, Serbia, Macedonia, Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, and Libya. Its official culture was Greek and Christian, but it had a wide variety of religious, ethnic and social groups. It had a strong and varied economic base which allowed it to have high levels of literacy, wealth per capita and population density.
Early …show more content…
The best example of this is Corpus iuris civilis (Corpus of Civil Law). This reform organized Roman Law. This was a big deal as Roman law was a thousand years old by this time. Corpus iuris civilis was divided into three parts. The first was the Codex Justinianus. This was the collection of every imperial edict from the previous four centuries and any new edict that was issued. This served as the handbook to emphasize and justify the authority of the emperor. The second part was the Digest. This contained all the precedent-setting legal judgments issued by Roman jurists in criminal and civil cases. This covered every domain of life. The third part was called Institutes and was the abridgment of the first two texts used as a textbook to be studied in law school. The importance of Corpus iuris civilis cannot be overstated as it may be the most influential secular text in western history. The book guided Byzantine rule for nine hundred years after Justinian died. It made law a comprehensive law of rational sense instead of the previous messy congregation of pronouncements. The book was the model for the development of the Catholic Church’s system of canon law. Even the United States system of precedent setting law can be traced directly back to Justinian’s
The Eastern Roman Empire became known as the Byzantine Empire. It was a vast empire that included, Albania, Bosnia, Serbia, Macedonia, Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, and Libya. Its official culture was Greek and Christian, but it had a wide variety of religious, ethnic and social groups. It had a strong and varied economic base which allowed it to have high levels of literacy, wealth per capita and population density.
Early …show more content…
The best example of this is Corpus iuris civilis (Corpus of Civil Law). This reform organized Roman Law. This was a big deal as Roman law was a thousand years old by this time. Corpus iuris civilis was divided into three parts. The first was the Codex Justinianus. This was the collection of every imperial edict from the previous four centuries and any new edict that was issued. This served as the handbook to emphasize and justify the authority of the emperor. The second part was the Digest. This contained all the precedent-setting legal judgments issued by Roman jurists in criminal and civil cases. This covered every domain of life. The third part was called Institutes and was the abridgment of the first two texts used as a textbook to be studied in law school. The importance of Corpus iuris civilis cannot be overstated as it may be the most influential secular text in western history. The book guided Byzantine rule for nine hundred years after Justinian died. It made law a comprehensive law of rational sense instead of the previous messy congregation of pronouncements. The book was the model for the development of the Catholic Church’s system of canon law. Even the United States system of precedent setting law can be traced directly back to Justinian’s