III. JUSTINIAN'S INSTITUTES are an abridg ment of the Code and Digest, composed by order of that emperor and under his guid ance, with an intention to give a summary knowledge of the law to those persons not versed in it, and particularly to students. Inst. Proem. 3.
5. The lawyers employed to oompile it were Tribonian, Theophilus, and Dorothens. The work was first published on the 2lat of November in the year 533, and received the sanction of statute law by order of the emperor. They arc divided into four books : esch book is divided into titles, and each title into separate paragraphs or sections, pre oeded by an introductory part. The first part is called principiant, because it is the commencement of the title ; those which follow arc numbered, and called paragraphs. The work treats of the rights of persons, of things, and of actions. The first book treats of persons; the second, third, and the first five titles of the fourth book, of things; and the re mainder of the fourth book, of actions. The method of oiting the Institutes should be understood, sod is nuw commonly by giving the number of the book, title, and section, thus: Inst. I. 2. 5.—therehy indi cating book I. title 2, section 5. Where it is in tended to indicate the first paragraph, or princi pium, thus : Inst. B. I. 2. pr. Frequently the citation is simply I. or J. I. 2. 5. A second made of citation is thus : 5, Inst. or I. I. 2.—meaning book I, title 2, paragraph 5. A third method of citation, and one in universal use with the older jurists, was by giving the name of the title and the first words of the paragraph referred to, thus : seoatusconsultum est I de jure net. gen. et civil.— which means, as before, Inst. B. I. tit. 2, 5. See 1 Celquhoun, s. 61.
6. The first printed edition of the Institutes is that of Schoyffer, fol., 1468. The last critical Ger
man edition is that of Schrader, 4to, Berlin, 1832. This work of Schrader is the most learned and most elaborate commentary on the text of Justinian in any language, and was intended to form a part of the Berlin Corpus Juris; but nothing further has been yet published. It is impossible in this brief article to name all the commentaries on these In stitutes, which in all ages have commanded the study and admiration of jurists. More than one hundred and fifty years ago one Homberg printed a tract De Multitudine nimie Commentatorum in Inatitutiones Juris. But we must refer the reader to the best recent French and English editions. Ortolan's Institutes do l'Empereur Justinian avec le texto, la traduction en regard, et les explications sous chaque paragraphs, Paris, 1857, 3 vols. 8vo, sixth edition. This is, by common consent of scho lars, regarded as the best historical edition of the Institutes ever published. Du Caurroy's Institutes de Justinien traduites et expliqu6es par A. M. Du Caurroy, Paris, 1851, 8th ed. 2 vols. 8vo. The Institutes of' Justinian : with English Introduction, Translation, and Notes, by Thomoe Collet Sandars, M.A., London, 1853, 8vo; 2d ed., 1860. This work has been prepared expressly for beginners, and is founded. mainly upon Ortolan, with a liberal use of LaGrange, Du Caurroy, Warnkoenig, and Puchta, as well as Harris and Cooper. A careful study of this edition will result in the student's abandoning its pages and betaking himself to Schrader and Ortolan. The English edition of Harris, and the American one of Cooper, have ceased to attract attention.