Institutes of Justinian

An English Version of the Institutes of Justinian (1812)

The Institutes of Justinian is arranged much like Gaius's work, being divided into four books covering "persons," "things,", and "actions."

The Digest (Roman law) and the "Institutes of Justinian" are part of the Corpus Juris Civilis.

He found the Roman Dutch Law satisfying in its logic and philosophy and read the Institutes of Justinian like literature; at the same time politics and sociology both fascinated him.

The Preface of the Tractatus is commonly described as an admiring imitation of the Prœmium (Preface) to the Institutes of Justinian, with no negative implications of plagiarism.

The result was the Institutes of Justinian, which included the provision that "by the law of nature these things are common to all mankind; the air, running water, the sea and consequently the shores of the sea."

The Digest was one part of the Corpus Juris Civilis, the body of civil law issued under Justinian I. The other two parts were Institutes of Justinian, and the Codex Justinianus (Code of Justinian).