BASSIANUS, JOANNES, Italian jurist of the 12th cen tury, is said by Corolus de Tocco to have been a native of Cre mona. He was a professor in the law school of Bologna, the pupil of Bulgarus (q.v.) and the master of Azo (q.v.). His best known extant treatise is the Summary on the Authentica, which Savigny regarded as one of the most precious works of the gloss-writers. Joannes, generally so termed, was remarkable for his talent in inventing ingenious forms to set forth his ideas, and perhaps his most celebrated work is his "Law-Tree," Arbor Arborum, the subject of many commentaries. It presents a tree upon the branches of which the various kinds of actions are arranged like fruit. The civil actions, or actiones stricti juris, 48 in number, are on one side, the equitable or praetorian actions, 121, on the other. A further division of actions was made by him under 12 heads, and by a system of notation the student could class at once each of the civil or praetorian actions under its proper head. His Lec tures on the Pandects and the Code, collected by his pupil Nico laus Furiosus, have perished.