II. GAIUS' INSTITUTES. A tractate upon the Roman law, ascribed to Caius or Gaius.
3. Of the personal history of this jurist nothing is known. Even the spelling of his name is mat ter of controversy, and be is known by no other title than Gains, or Caius. He ie believed to have lived in the reign of Marcus Aurelius. The his tory of Gaius's Institutes is remarkable. In 1816, Niihuhr was sent to Rome by the king of Prussia. On his way thither, be spent two days in the cathe dral library of Verona, and at this time discovered thee Iestitutes, which had been lost to the jurists of the middle ages. In 1817, the Royal Academy of Berlin charged Goesohen, Bekker, and Hollweg with the duty of transcribing the discovered maeu eoript. In 1819, Goesohen gave the first completed edition, as far as the manuscript could be deci phered, to his fellow-jurists. It created an un usual sensation, and became a fruitful source of comment. It formed a new era in the study of Roman law. It gave the modern jurist the signal advantage of studying the source of the Institutes of Justioian. It is believed by the best modern scholars that Gaius was the first original tractate of the kind, not being compiled from former pub lications. The language of Gaius is clear, terse, and technical,—evidently written by a master of law and a master of the Latin tongue. The Insti tutes were unquestionably practical. There is no attempt at criticism or philosophical discussion: the disciple of Sabinus is content to teach law as he finds it. Its arrangement is solid and logical, and Justinian follows it with an almost aervile imitation.
4. The best editions of Gains are Goeseben's 2d ed., Berlin, 1824, in which the text was again col lated by Bluhme, and the 3d ed. of Goesohen, Ber lin, 1842, edited by Lachman from a critical re vision by Goeschen which had been interrupted by his death. In France, Gains attracted equal attention, and we have three editions and transla tions: Beulet, Paris, 1824;. Domenget, 1843 ; and Pellat, 1844. k We are also promised a commentary by the last very distinguished civilian, which will give us a complete critical text and elaborate notes, —a thing much to be desired.
In 1859, Francesco Biel, a learned Italian scholar, published, at Bologna, a new edition of the first book of Gains, with an Italian translation en re gard, The edition is accompanied and enriched by many valuable notes, printed in both Latin and Italian. Perhaps this must he considered, so for as printed, the most complete edition of the old civilian that modern scholars have yet produced.
The reader who may wish to pursue his Gaiian studies should consult the list of some thirty-odd treatises and commentaries mentioned in Mackel dey's Lehrhuch des Rom. Rechts, p. 47, note (h), 13th ed., Wien, 1851; Husehke; Essay Zur Kritik and Interp. von Gains lost., Breslau, 1830; Han bold's Inst. Juris Rom. Prey. Line., pp. 151, 152, 505, 506, Lipsim, 1826; Boeoking's Gaius, Preface, pp. 11-18, Laps., 1845.; Lisi's Gaiue, Preface, pp. x. xi., Bologna, 1859.