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Appendix - Justinian and the revision of Jewish legal status

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2008

By
Alfredo Rabello
Edited by
Steven T. Katz
Alfredo Rabello
Affiliation:
Faculty of Law, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Steven T. Katz
Affiliation:
Boston University
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Summary

Justinian I (Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus, 482–565 ce), the Roman Emperor in the East (527–s65), was appointed coruler of the Empire in 527 by his uncle, Justin I, and succeeded him in 528. For Justinian, Empire and Church were a single unit of universal character, the Emperor as the head of both, the representative of God on earth. His devotion to the Church so profoundly influenced his actions and his juridical system that it has been claimed that the most characteristic and essential feature of his Empire was religion. It is easy, therefore, to understand that he opposed, a priori, heathens and Jews and tried to suppress the numerous ‘heretical’ movements.

Of particular importance was Justinian’s legislative work, which was entrusted to Tribonian, assisted by many legal experts and lawyers. Justinian had assumed power for only a short time, when he set about preparing what was to become the Corpus Iuris Civilis. Unavoidably, a number of laws in this code refer to the Jews and their legal status.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge History of Judaism , pp. 1073 - 1076
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2006

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References

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