INSTITUTES. The principles or first elements of jurisprudence.
2. Many books have borne the title of Institutes. Among the most
celebrated in the common law, are the Institutes of Lord Coke, which,
however, on account of the want of arrangement and the diffusion with which
his books are written, bear but little the character of Institutes; in the,
civil law the most generally known are those of Caius, Justinian, and
Theophilus.
3. The Institutes of Caius are an abridgment of the Roman law, composed
by the celebrated lawyer Caius or Gaius, who lived during th e reign of
Marcus Aurelius.
4. The Institutes of Justinian, so called, because they are, as it
were, masters and instructors to the. ignorant, and show an easy way to the
obtaining of the knowledge of the law, are an abridgment of the Code and of
the Digest, composed by order of that emperor: his intention in this
composition was to give a summary knowledge of the law to those persons not
versed in it, and particularly to merchants. The lawyers employed to make
this book, were Tribonian, Theophilus, and Dorotheus. The work was first
published in the year 533, and received the sanction of statute law, by
order of the emperor. The Institutes of Justinian are divided into four
books: each book is divided into two titles, and each title into parts. The
first part is called principium, because it is the commencement of the
title; those which follow are numbered and called paragraphs. The work
treats of the rights of persons, of things, and of actions. The first book
treats of persons; the second, third, and the first five titles of the
fourth book, of things; and the remainder of the fourth book, of actions.
This work has been much admired on account of its order and Scientific
arrangement, which presents, at a single glance, the whole jurisprudence of
the Romans. It is too little known and studied. The late Judge Cooper, of
Pennsylvania, published an edition with valuable notes.
5. The Institutes of Theophilus are a paraphrase of those of Justinian,
composed in Greek, by a lawyer of that name, by order of the emperor Phocas.
Vide 1 Kent, Com. 538; Profession d'Avocat tom. ii. n. 536, page 95; Introd.
a l'Etude du Droit Romain, p. 124; Dict. de Jurisp. h. t.; Merl. R‚pert. h.
t.; Encyclop‚die de d'Alembert, h. t.