Body of Civil Law (Corpus Iuris Civilis) Vol. I (Digest)

Experience, however, taught otherwise, when the eyes of those inquiring more accurately into the condition of the lauded edition encounter countless errors and many false citations of laws.

Since, therefore, the scarcity of copies, which had been sold out, urged a new edition of the Corpus Juris Civilis Romani Roman Body of Civil Law, the most worthy heir of the Gleditsch name, deserving of the highest merit in the field of literature, spared no expense or effort to present these most noble books to the public light in a new and most elegant guise. Nothing was neglected that could contribute to the splendor and easier use of the work. For as far as the external appearance of the book is concerned, it is apparent at first glance how both the convenience of those unrolling the pages and the elegance of the notes and letters, as well as the most wealthy and corrected indices, have been provided for. Everything that the Leeuwen edition had as unique features—except for the Greek text of the constitutions, which the format of the present edition could not contain—was transferred into the work itself, yet in such a way that the infinite errors of the printers, which still stained the otherwise polished Leeuwen edition, were expunged by comparing other editions of the best quality. This labor turned out successfully, since those who had spent their efforts fifteen years ago on the previous edition, both in printing and correcting, took charge of the present edition and had rendered this work so familiar to themselves that, from repeated handling, they seemed to have acquired a habit of it. Nor were other subsidies supplied by very learned men neglected, both in restoring the text and in increasing the dignity of the work, to whose advice and labor the present edition is indeed owed. Nor should we remain silent about the fact that, in printing the fragments of Juris Ante-Justinianei Ante-Justinian Law, we have almost always followed the Jurisprudentiam veterem Ante-Justinianeam Ancient Ante-Justinian Jurisprudence of the most learned JCtus Jurisconsult Antonius Schultingius. Moreover, what has been newly added in the present edition or explained more accurately, the subsequent index of matters thrown into this body will teach; and if you please, BENEVOLENT READER, you will not regret having read it through (*).

(*) We have transcribed this preface to the reader, as it contains a history of the editions of the Corpus Juris Body of Law, from the Leipzig edition of 1719. The printer who adorned the second Leipzig edition in 1740 used that copy, protesting that he had removed the errors that had crept into previous ones, had correctly ascribed variant readings in his notes to their authors, had again called upon the editions of Haloander, Contius, and the best of all, Leeuwen, and had consulted particularly the copy of Gothofredus, the supreme Jurisconsult, corrected in places by his own hand, by whose aid he had restored not a few things to their integrity, and had finally added an index of 215 Authentics, as well as accurately recalling the years prefixed to the laws to the Chronic canons. From this second Leipzig edition was composed the edition which most recently appeared at Cologne in 1781, and the following note from the bookseller teaches what was performed in it. We have faithfully followed the Cologne copy in this our Neapolitan edition. We have, however, with the latest Leipzig edition before our eyes, corrected with the greatest care as many typographical errors as anyone can distinguish. Furthermore, we have performed, with the utmost labor, that which no one had dared until now: that the paragraphs of the text and the numbers of the notes should begin from a distinct series of lines, so that the greater convenience of the readers might be provided for.