The Institutions, or Elements, in Four Books

What it is

This is a book printed in London in 1814 that presents an English translation of Justinian's Institutes, a four-book textbook of Roman law. The translation is credited to Dr. Harris. The volume begins with a short account of the rise and progress of Roman law, starting from the early kings and the Twelve Tables. A copy is held by the Internet Archive, and the record notes it came to the University of Toronto library in 1901.

Why it matters

The Institutes were issued in 533 as a teaching manual for students of law, and they remained a standard introduction to Roman law for centuries. An English version from 1814 shows that Justinian's legal teaching was being read in Britain long after his reign, in a period when Roman law still shaped European legal thinking.

Look closer

• What does the opening history of Roman law suggest about how the translator wanted readers to understand Justinian's work?
• Why would a 1814 publisher print a legal textbook for a general English readership?
• Whose voices are missing from a textbook that describes the law from the top down?