Legal Definitions - Code of Justinian

The Code of Justinian is a collection of imperial constitutions that replaced all prior imperial law. It was drawn up by a commission of ten persons appointed by Justinian and published in A.D. 529. The project began in February A.D. 528 and ended in April 529. The second work, containing the 12 books of the revised code, includes the imperial constitutions of the Gregorian, Hermogenian, and Theodosian Codes, together with later legislation, revised and harmonized into one systematic whole. It deals with ecclesiastical law, criminal law, administrative law, and private law.

For example, the Code of Justinian replaced all prior imperial law and was in force only until A.D. 534, when it was supplanted by a revision, the Codex Repetitae Praelectionis. The precise contents of the first work are unknown, but the second work is the one referred to as the Justinian Code in modern writings.