Der gescheiterte Codex
The Codex of Emperor Theodosius II, dating from the 5th century A.D., is generally considered to be a failed piece of legislation; as a law book, however, it was quite successful. By looking at Theodosius’ failure, this essay tries to establish general criteria for making a distinction between succe...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | deu |
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Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory
2007-01-01
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| Series: | Rechtsgeschichte - Legal History |
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| Online Access: | http://data.rg.mpg.de/rechtsgeschichte/rg10_recherche_kroppenberg.pdf |
| _version_ | 1818455267675734016 |
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| author | Inge Kroppenberg |
| author_facet | Inge Kroppenberg |
| author_sort | Inge Kroppenberg |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Codex of Emperor Theodosius II, dating from the 5th century A.D., is generally considered to be a failed piece of legislation; as a law book, however, it was quite successful. By looking at Theodosius’ failure, this essay tries to establish general criteria for making a distinction between successful codification projects and unsuccessful ones. Instead of following a more traditional approach by telling the success story of a given codification, the study focuses on a »pathological« legal project. In the Eastern part of the Roman Empire, it lacked a sufficient amount of »internal«, intrinsic authority, because it encompassed too many out-dated laws while neglecting the binding character of the ones actually in force. By forgoing the establishment of a hierarchical order of norms, however, a codification’s ability to function is severely diminished. In the Western half of the Empire the situation was somewhat different: here the Codex Theodosianus met with an unstable political situation; under these circumstances it never had a chance of functioning properly. After all, a codification is not a suitable remedy against the loss of political, i.e. »external« authority. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T22:08:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9ef660a9ca3d49a1855bc224b078156f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1619-4993 2195-9617 |
| language | deu |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T22:08:04Z |
| publishDate | 2007-01-01 |
| publisher | Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Rechtsgeschichte - Legal History |
| spelling | doaj.art-9ef660a9ca3d49a1855bc224b078156f2022-12-21T22:45:50ZdeuMax Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal TheoryRechtsgeschichte - Legal History1619-49932195-96172007-01-01Rg 1011212610.12946/rg10/112-126532Der gescheiterte CodexInge KroppenbergThe Codex of Emperor Theodosius II, dating from the 5th century A.D., is generally considered to be a failed piece of legislation; as a law book, however, it was quite successful. By looking at Theodosius’ failure, this essay tries to establish general criteria for making a distinction between successful codification projects and unsuccessful ones. Instead of following a more traditional approach by telling the success story of a given codification, the study focuses on a »pathological« legal project. In the Eastern part of the Roman Empire, it lacked a sufficient amount of »internal«, intrinsic authority, because it encompassed too many out-dated laws while neglecting the binding character of the ones actually in force. By forgoing the establishment of a hierarchical order of norms, however, a codification’s ability to function is severely diminished. In the Western half of the Empire the situation was somewhat different: here the Codex Theodosianus met with an unstable political situation; under these circumstances it never had a chance of functioning properly. After all, a codification is not a suitable remedy against the loss of political, i.e. »external« authority.http://data.rg.mpg.de/rechtsgeschichte/rg10_recherche_kroppenberg.pdfMPIeR |
| spellingShingle | Inge Kroppenberg Der gescheiterte Codex Rechtsgeschichte - Legal History MPIeR |
| title | Der gescheiterte Codex |
| title_full | Der gescheiterte Codex |
| title_fullStr | Der gescheiterte Codex |
| title_full_unstemmed | Der gescheiterte Codex |
| title_short | Der gescheiterte Codex |
| title_sort | der gescheiterte codex |
| topic | MPIeR |
| url | http://data.rg.mpg.de/rechtsgeschichte/rg10_recherche_kroppenberg.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ingekroppenberg dergescheitertecodex |