Novell' - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition novell

Definition :

Novell', those constitutions of the Civil law which were made after the publication of the Theodosian code; but sometimes the Julian edition only is meant.

Novell', or Novell' Constitutiones, from a part of the Corpus Juris. Most of them were published in Greek, and their Greek title is Avtokpatopos' Invotiviavov Auyovotov nepai Siataeves. Some of them were published in Latin, and some in both languages.

The first of these Novell' of Justinian belongs to the year A.D. 535 (Nov. 1), and the latest on the year A.D. 565 (Nov. 137), but most of them were published between the years 535 and 539. These Constitutiones were published after the completion of the second edition of the Code, for the purpose of supplying what was deficient in that work. Indeed, it appears that on the completion of his second edition of the new Code, the emperor designed to form many new constitutions which he might publish into a body by themselves, so as to render a third revision of the Code unnecessary, and that he contemplated giving to this body of law the name of Novell' Constitutiones, Just. In Cod. 'cordi nobis,' ' 4.

It does not, however, appear that any official compilation of these new constitutions appeared in the lifetime of Justinian. The Greek text of the Novell', of which 159 belong to Justinian, and the rest to Justin the Second and to Tiberius; they are generally divided into chapters. There is a Latin epitome of these Novell'. The epitome was probably made in the time of Justinian, and the author was probably Antecessor, at Constantinople. Thereis also another collection of 134 Novell', in a Latin version made from the Greek text this collection is generally called Liber Authenticorum; the compiler and the time of the compilation are unknown. This collection has been made independently of the Greek compilation. It is divided into nine collationes, and the collationes are divided into tituli. The most complete work on the history of the Novell' is by Biener, Geschichte der Novellen. See also Betray zu Litterar-Geschichte des Novellen Auszugs von Julian; Von Haubold, Zeitschrift, etc., iv.; Smith's Dict. of Antiq.