Although educated primarily in the common law tradition, the founding generation was keenly aware of the Roman Civil Law, and referred to it frequently during the process of drafting and ratifying the Constitution. The following web site collects in fully searchable word processing and PDF formats the principal compilations of classical Roman law.

Institutes of Roman Law by Gaius

• .pdf format, file size = 668 KB; Latin
• MS Word format, file size = 862 KB; Latin

The Digest of Justinian

• .pdf format, file size = 1,345 KB; Latin
• MS Word format, file size = 12,257 KB; Latin

The Institutes of Justinian

• .pdf format, file size = 541 KB; Latin
• MS Word format, file size = 466 KB; Latin

The Codex of Justinian

• .pdf format, file size = 3,610 KB; Latin
• MS Word format, file size = 4,109 KB; Latin

Credits:

Robert G. Natelson
School of Law
The University of Montana
Missoula MT 59812-6552
406-243-2751

Assisted by Rebecca Natelson (then age 16)
three-times winner of perfect score on the National Latin Exam;
now at Washington and Lee University