Corpus Juris Civilis
(redirected from Corpus Iuris Civilis)Also found in: Dictionary, Encyclopedia.
Related to Corpus Iuris Civilis: Codex Justinianus
Corpus Juris Civilis
[Latin, The body of the civil law.] The name given in the early seventeenth century to the collection of Civil Law based upon the compilation and Codification of the Roman system of Jurisprudence directed by the Emperor Justinian I during the years from 528 to 534 a.d.
Corpus Juris Civilis
Justinian's compilation of the Roman law for his empire. It is in four parts: the Institutes (a student introduction); the Digest or Pandects (a collation in four sections of the Roman law from the jurists, which was, however, heavily interpolated by the compilers); the Codex or Code (a compilation of legislative measures); and the Novels (some later supplementary laws). Both the Digest and the Institutes were to form the basis of the later revival of Roman law throughout the continental European world. They are still the object of intense study and debate today.CORPUS JURIS CIVILIS. The body of the civil law. This, is the name given to a collection of the civil law, consisting of Justinian's Institutes, the Pandects or Digest, the Code, and the Novels.