The high point of the reign of the Emperor Justinian in the sixth century AD was the compilation of Roman law in four works, the Institutes, Digest, Code and Novels. Known as the Corpus iuris civilis, this is the basic material for studying Roman law and the source of much of Europe's legal thinking. This volume consists of a useful Introduction, Paul Krueger's Latin text of the Institutes, and a good modern English translation by Peter Birks and Grant McLeod.
