Pandects

In Civil Law. The name of an abridgment or compilation of the civil law, made by Tribonian and others, by order jf the emperor Justinian, and to which he ga'’e (he force of law, A. D. 533. The emperor, in 530, published an ordinance entitled Be Conccptione Digcstorum, which was addressed to Tribonian, and by which he was required to select some of the most distinguished lawyers to assist him in composing a collection of the best decisions of the ancient lawyers, and compile them in fifty books, without confusion or contradiction. The instructions of the emperor were to select what was useful, to omit what was antiquated or superfluous, to avoid contradictions, and by the necessary changes, to produce a complete body of law. This work was a companion to the Code of Justinian, and was to be governed in its arrangement of topics by the method of the Code. Justinian allowed the commissioners, who were sixteen in number, ten years to compile it; but the work was completed in three years, and promulgated in 533. A list of the writers from whose works the collection was made, and an account of the rrtelhod pursued by the commissioners, will be found in Smith’s Diet, of Gr. & ltom. Antiq. About a third of the collection is taken from Ulpian; Julius Paulus, a contemporary of Ulpian, stands next: these two contributed one-half of the Digest. Papinian comes next. The Digest, although compiled in Constantinople, was originally written in Latin, and afterwards translated into Greek. The Digest is divided in two different ways: the first into fifty books, each book in several titles, and each title into several extracts or leges, and at the head of each series of extracts is the name of the lawyer from whose work they were taken. Tho fifty books are allotted in seven parts. q’he division into digestum vetus (book first to and including title second of book twenty-fourth), diacstum xnfortiatum (title third of book twentyfourth, to and including book thirty-eighth), and diacstum novum (from book thirty-ninth to the end), has reference to the order in which these three parts appeared. As to the methods of citing them, see Citation of Authohitikh. Tho style of the work is very grave and pure, and contrasts in this respect with that of the Code, which is very far from da -Meal. On tho other hand, the learning of the Digest stands rather in the discussing of subtle questions of law, and enumerations of tho variety of opinions of ancient lawyers thereupon, than in practical matters of daily use, of which the Code so simply and directly treats. See Ridley, View, pt. i. ch. 1, 2. While the Pandects form much the largest fraction of the Corpus Juns, their relativo value and importance are lar more than proportional to their extent They are, in fact, the soul of the Cot pus Juns. Hadley, Rom. L. 11. It covered the domain of private law and the dealings of men with each other. “Its design was noble, but its execution was exceedingly imperfect.” James C. Carter, I’he Law, etc., 2S8. See Civil Law. PANEL (diminutive from either pane, apart, or page, pagclla. Cowell). In Practice. A schedule or roll, containing the names of jurors summoned by virtue of a writ of venire facias, and annexed to the writ. It is returned into court whence the icnire issued. Co. Litt. 158 b; 3 Bla. Com. 353,; People v. Coyodo, 40 Cal. 580. See Beasley v. People, 89 111. 575. The word may be used to designate either the whole number of jurors summoned or those selected by the clerk by lot according to the connection in which it is used. State v. Gurlagh, 7G la. 141, 40 N. \V. 141.

or Digests. A connpilation of Roman law in fifty books, published in the year 533. It consists of selections from the writings of the old jurists, made under the direction of Justinian, and constitutes one of the four principal divisions of the Corpus Juris Civilis.

A compilation of the civil law, prepared by direction of the emperor Justinian, and issued as law, A. D. 533. Called pandects (" all-receiving ") from the multiplicity of its sources. Consists of fifty books, with numerous titles, and the matter of about nine thousand extracts, varying from a single line to several octavo pages of average size. Most of the extracts are taken from the law-writings of Ulpian, Paulus, and Papinian. The work, which is also called the Digest, forms the largest fraction of the Corpus Juris Civjlis.*