NOTE ON THE CITATION OF ROMAN SOURCES
In this book, and other books on Roman law, reference is made to Roman sources. It is therefore important to know how to find and how to cite these.
The main source of our knowledge of Roman law is the Digest of Justinian.
The Digest is divided into a number of books, and each book into a number of titles, each with a number. Each title is divided into numerous sections. A passage in the Digest is cited with the abbreviation “D”, followed by the number of the book, then the number of the title, and so on. Thus, the first title of the first book is cited as D. 1.1.Each title is divided into leges (laws), each of which is an extract from a particular author. The name of the author and the work from which it is taken are given at the beginning. The leges themselves are numbered.
Each lex is further subdivided into paragraphs. The first is cited by adding “pr” (for principium, or beginning) to the citation for the section. Thus, the opening words of the Digest would be cited as D. 1.1.1pr. Thereafter, each paragraph is numbered, so the next is D.1.1.1.1.
The other Roman sources are cited in much the same way, but with different letters at the beginning. Passages in the Institutes of Justinian are cited with the letter “J” (or sometimes “Inst”), passages in the Codex of Justinian with “C” and passages in the Novels with the abbreviation “Nov”. Citations beginning “G” relate to the Institutes of Gaius.
CARAE UXORI MEAE
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