Justinian Code

It is clear that slavery existed in all cultures at this point in time. The use of codes and laws in regards to slavery in the early centuries influenced Roman and Germanic culture, as can be seen in Slave Law in Roman and Germanic Society.

On one side of the Mediterranean, in Egypt and Mesopotamia, slaves were people who were repaying debts, being sold in light of financial hardship, war captives, or criminals being punished. Slaves worked on various tasks, including farming, and administrative work. This was a slave-using area, however, they were not a slave-society. Rome, however, was a slave society. Slaves accounted for a large percentage of the population. The slaves would seek to do productive labor, which raised the wealth of the elite.

5). The compilation of these features was done by Theodosius II, creating the Theodosian Code. This code was soon expanded upon by the Byzantine ruler, Justinian, who produced Justinian’s Code. The origin of the two codes above comes from the Twelve Tables, which was the first written codification. Rome was not the only city to have a generous percentage of slaves. Although the number of slaves differed, Germany was also a slave-owner society. Germany’s law was polar opposite of Rome’s. Instead of being written, the laws were traditions that had been orally passed down. Often, the codes passed down bore the names of tribes: Burgundian Law, Salic Law, and Lombard Law. When the Germans conquered Rome, communication was extremely difficult (due to the owners moving away from their farms). This lead to the making of localized slavery. Another barrier to overcome was that of statutory and geographical versus customary and personal. The solution implemented two legal systems, one for Rome and one for Germany. This is how the following seven codes and laws described in Slave Law in Roman and Germanic Society came about: the Theodosian code, Justinian’s code, Burgundian code, Salic law, Lombard law, Alemannic law, and Anglo Saxon law. These codes and laws have similarities and differences, which will be discussed