JUSTINIAN, CODE OF

JUSTINIAN, CODE OF. The phrase refers to the revision and codification of Roman Law ordered by Justinian I (q.v.), overseen by the jurist, Trikonian, and completed in 529. It forms, together with Justinian’s other legal publications, the Digest, Institutes, and Novels, the Corpus Juris Civilis. With further periodic revisions, e.g., the Epanagoge (q.v.), it served as the basis of civil and ecclesiastical law for the remainder of the Byzantine era (q.v.). The rediscovery of the Corpus Juris Civilis by Western Europe in the 11th c. prompted an efflorescence of legal studies. This continued on and established the foundations of Roman Catholic Canon Law (qq.v.), the Corpus Juris Canonici of Gratian (d. 1140), and the civil law in most of Europe.