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GAIUS

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 391 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GAIUS , a celebrated See also:

Roman jurist. Of his See also:personal See also:history very little is known. It is impossible to discover even his full name, Gaius or See also:Caius being merely the personal name(praenomen) so See also:common in See also:Rome. From See also:internal See also:evidence in his See also:works it may be gathered that he flourished in the reigns of the emperors See also:Hadrian, See also:Antoninus See also:Pius, See also:Marcus Aurelius and See also:Commodus. His works were thus composed between the years 13o and 18o, at the See also:time when the Roman See also:empire was most prosperous, and its See also:government the best. Most probably Gaius lived in some provincial See also:town, and hence we find no contemporary notices of his See also:life or works. After his See also:death, however, his writings were recognized as of See also:great authority, and the See also:emperor Valentinian named him, along with See also:Papinian, See also:Ulpian, See also:Modestinus and See also:Paulus, as one of the five jurists whose opinions were to be followed by judicial See also:officers in deciding cases. The works of these jurists accordingly became most important See also:sources of Roman See also:law. Besides the Institutes, which are a See also:complete exposition of the elements of Roman law, Gaius was the author of a See also:treatise on the Edicts of the Magistrates, of Commentaries on the Twelve Tables, and on the important Lex Papia Poppaea, and several other works. His See also:interest in the antiquities of Roman law is apparent, and for this See also:reason his See also:work is most valuable to the historian of See also:early institutions. In the disputes between the two See also:schools of Roman jurists he generally attached himself to that of the Sabinians, who were said to be followers of Ateius See also:Capito, of whose life we have some See also:account in the See also:Annals of See also:Tacitus, and to See also:advocate a strict adherence as far as possible to See also:ancient rules, and to resist innovation. Many quotations from the works of Gaius occur in the See also:Digest of Justinian, and so acquired a permanent See also:place in the See also:system of Roman law; while a comparison of the Institutes of Justinian with those of Gaius shows that the whole method and arrangement of the later work were copied from that of the earlier, and very numerous passages are word for word the same.

Probably, for the greater See also:

part of the See also:period of three centuries which elapsed between Gaius and Justinian, the Institutes of the former had been the See also:familiar See also:text-See also:book of all students of Roman law. Unfortunately the work was lost to See also:modern scholars, until, in 1816, a See also:manuscript was discovered by B. G. See also:Niebuhr in the See also:chapter library of See also:Verona, in which certain of the works of St See also:Jerome were written over some earlier writings, which proved to be the lost work of Gaius. The greater part of the See also:palimpsest has, however, been deciphered and the text is now fairly complete. This See also:discovery has thrown a See also:flood of See also:light on portions of the history of Roman law which had previously been most obscure. Much of the See also:historical See also:information given by Gaius is wanting in the compilations of Justinian, and, in particular, the account of the ancient forms of See also:procedure in actions. In these forms can be traced " survivals " from the most See also:primitive times, which provide the See also:science of See also:comparative law with valuable illustrations, which may explain the See also:strange forms of legal procedure found in other early systems. Another circumstance which renders the work of Gaius more interesting to the historical student than that of Justinian, is that Gaius lived at a time when actions were tried by the system of formulae, or formal directions given by the See also:praetor before whom the See also:case first came, to the judex to whom he referred it. Without a knowledge of the terms of these formulae it is impossible to solve the most interesting question in the history of Roman law, and show how the rigid rules See also:peculiar to the ancient law of Rome were modified by what has been called the equitable See also:jurisdiction of the praetors, and made applicable to new conditions, and brought into See also:harmony with the notions and the needs of a more See also:developed society. It is clear from evidence of Gaius that this result was obtained, not by an See also:independent set of courts administering, as in See also:England previous to the Judicature Acts, a system different from that of the See also:ordinary courts, but by the manipulation of the formulae. In the time of Justinian the work was complete, and the formulary system had disappeared.

The Institutes of Gaius are divided into four books—the first treating of persons and the See also:

differences of the status they may occupy in the See also:eye of the law; the second-of things, 'and the modes in which rights over them may be acquired, including thelaw See also:relating to See also:wills; the third of intestate See also:succession and of obligations; the See also:fourth of actions and their forms. There are several carefully prepared See also:editions of the Institutes, starting from that of See also:Goschen (182o), down to that of Studemund and See also:Kruger (1900). The most complete See also:English edition is that of E. Poste, which includes beside the text an English See also:translation and copious commentary (1885). A comparison of the early forms of actions mentioned by Gaius with those used by other primitive See also:societies will be found in See also:Sir H. See also:Maine's Early Institutions, cap. 9. For further information see M. Glasson, Etude sur Gaius et sur le See also:jus respondendi; also ROMAN Law.

End of Article: GAIUS

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GAIUS CAESAR (A.D. 12-41)

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