Manuscripta juridica

Digesta - Digestum vetus . Written in dark brown ink. Reclamants are found on the verso side of each fascicle's last leaf, at times under the middle and at other times under text column vb. Near the end, one entire fascicle was lost and was then replaced by blank sheets of parchment of the nineteenth century. Borland stated that altogether 12 sheets are missing, in three different places. Blank sheets were supplied in their stead when the volume was rebound.

The introductory constitution 'Omnem' is lacking. Inscriptiones are usually complete. Coloured initial characters in dark blue and in red were supplied for the first letter of the inscription and of the lex. The decorator who supplied them did not care to let them alternate regularly. Most often he gave the inscription a blue capital letter, and gave the first word of the lex a red one, but in irregular intervals he inverted this order.

At the beginning of each book the left third of the first lines is left free. It was meant to supply here a particularly ornamented initial - but this never ensued. Thereafter follows a block of elongated characters in alternating colours dark blue and red. The characters are taken from the name of the first jurist mentioned in the new book, for instance LPIANUS.

The manuscript was still used in the late 13th century and even in the 14th century - as attested by notes written in careless handwriting by users of these late times.

The MS contains some small pictures, roughly drawn , at times in normal ink, but at other times in red colour: e.g. a long stretched animal (a running cat?), a red bird (falcon?), faces, a devil's head.

In some cases where a text passage has similar wording or similar content with another text passage nearby both text passages are earmarked by means of a small drawing in the margin (a star, or some other small ornament). This technique had been fashionable in the middle of the 12th century, and it is interesting to see that it was still applied in the present MS.

Furthermore many text passages are earmarked in the outer margin by a raw drawing which resembles a bag whose opening has been closed with a knot so that two ends stand up as if they were horns. The purpose of these drawings is not clear. They might earmark texts which required particular attention, or which the students had to learn by heart

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Author(s):

• Justinianus imperator

No. of pages: Fol. 1ra-185rb

Incipit:

• De iustitia et iure

Explicit:

• idem erit probandum

Colophon: Benedictus dominus deus meus Ihesus Christus. Amen.