Constitutiones
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary · Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary
Laws promulgated, i. e., enacted, by the Roman emperor. They were of the following kinds: (1) Edicta; (2) decreta; (3) rescripta, called, also, "epistolae." Sometimes they were general, and intended to form a precedent for other like cases. At other times they were special, particular, or individual (personales), and not intended to form a precedent. The emperor had this power of irresponsible enactment by virtue of a certain lex regia, whereby he was made the fountain of justice and of mercy. Brown. CONSTITUTIONES TEMPORE POSTEriores potiores sunt his quae Ipsas praecesserunt. Later laws prevail over those which preceded them.
Dig. 1. 4. 4.