Edestia

Buildings.

EDICT (Lat. edictum). A law ordained the whole country, or only to some particular provinces. Edicts are somewhat similar to public proclamations. Their difference consists in this, that the former have authority and form of law in themselves, whereas the latter are, at most, declarations of a law before enacted. Among the Romans, this word sometimes signified a citation to appear before a judge. The edicts of the emperors, also called constitutiones prindpium, were new laws which they made of their own motion, either to decide cases which they had foreseen, or to abolish or change some ancient laws. They were different from "rescripts" or "decrees," which were answers given in deciding questions brought before them. These edicts contributed to the formation of the Gregorian, Hermogenian, Theodosian, and Justinian Codes. See Dig. 1.

4. 1. 1; Inst. 1. 2. 7; Code, 1. 1; Nov. 139.