The Institutes of Justinian: With Notes (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The Institutes of Justinian: With Notes

When I first undertook to publish Justinian's Institutes (that I might not entirely renounce my accustomed studies) I contemplated nothing more than a republication of Harris's Edition, which has now become scarce; together with some additional notes, and a Brief history of Roman Jurisprudence, by way of preface. On reading with attention Harris's Translation, I found the language so verbose, that I sat down. To translate the first Book of the Institutes in my own way. It is true, my car was better satisfied with my own performance; but I found so many cc-incidences of expression, and so little room to improve the fidelity of Harris's Version, that I determined to adopt it as the ground work of the present publication; and alter it no further, than to condense the expressions where they seemed to me needlessly diffuse. By so doing, I have abridged it to the amount of about one fifth of the whole, without sacrificing any thing necessary to the sense. Some few peri phrases I have retained, and some I have added, when the original seemed to require elucidation; but, upon the whole, my aim has been to render this a faithful translation in as few words as possible. Perhaps I may be blamed for taking this liberty with Dr. Harris's work. Had it been a piece of poetry, I should have left it untouched; but meaning to give to the public as good a translation as I could furnish, I saw no reason. Why I should needlessly occupy the time of the reader, or in crease the bulk of the book, by religiously retaining all its redundancies and imperfections.

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