' PANDECTS (Gr. Pandecton,. all-receiving; from pan, all, and dechomai, I receive), one of the celebrated legislative works of the emperor Justinian (q.v.), called also by the name Digestnm, or Digest. It was an attempt to form a complete system of law from the authoritative commentaries of the jurists upon the laws of Rome. The compilation of the pandect. was undertaken after that great collection of the laws themselves which is known as the Codex Justinianeus. It was intrusted to the celebrated Triboni anus, who had already distinguished himself in the preparation of the Codex. Triboni anus formed a commission consisting of 17 members, who were occupied from the year 530 till 533 in examining, selecting, compressing, and systematizing the authorities, eon of upwards of 2,000 treatises, whose interpretation of the ancient laws of Rome was from that time forward to be adopted with the authority of law. A period of 10 years had been allowed them for the completion of their work; but so diligently did they prosecute it that it was completed in less than one-third of the allotted time; and some idea of its extent may be formed from the fact that it contains upward of 9,000 separate extracts, selected according to subjects from the 2,000 treatises referred to above.
The Pandects are divided into 50 books, and also into 7 parts, which correspond respectively with books 1-4, 5-11, 12-19, 20-27, 28-35, 30-44, and 45-50. Of these divisions, however, the latter (into parts) is seldom attended to in citations. Each book is subdivided into titles, under which are arranged the extracts from the various jurists.
who are 39 in number, and are by some called the classical jurists, although oth6r writers on Roman law confine that appellation to five of the number, Papinian, Paulus, Ulpian, Gains (q.v.), and Modestinus. The extracts from these indeed constitute the bulk of the collection; those from Ulpian alone making one-third of the whole work, those from Paulus one-sixth, and those from Papinian one-twelfth. Other writers beside these 39 are cited, but only indirectly, i.e., when cited by the jurists whose works form the basis of the collection. The principle upon which the internal arrangement of the extracts from individua. writers was made been a subject of controversy. The question seems now to be satisfactorily solved; but the details of the discussion would carry its beyond the prescribed limits. Of the execution of the work it may be said that although not free from repetition (the same extracts occurring under different heads), and from, occasional inaptness of citation, and other inconsistencies, yet it deserves the very highest commendation. • In its relations to the history and literature of ancient Rome it is invalu able; and taken along with its necessary complement, the Codex, it may justly lae regarded (having been the basis of all the mediaeval legislation) as of the utmost value to the study of the principles not alone of Roman, but of all European law.