Sacratissimi Principis, Institutionum, sive Elementorum, Libri Quatuor. Notis perpetuis multo, quam hucusque, diligentius illustrati, Cura & studio Arnoldi Vinnii J.C. Editio postrema ab Auctore Recognita de JUSTINIAN [483-565] - 1669

Amsterdam: Elzevir, 1669. Vellum. Very Good. 12 mo. Pp. 12 p.l., 643, [5]. Engraved title, woodcut printer's device, ornaments and initials. Contemporary vellum, later ink title on spine (almost erased), minor stains on covers, covers yawning a bit, but overall an excellent copy. The most renowned of all the emperors in the Eastern Roman Empire, Justinian I is now best remembered as a legislator and codifier of the massive corpus of Roman law. The "Institutiones" was a systematic introductory treatise on civil law. Together with the "Codex", "Digesta", and "Novellae", it comprised the "Corpus Juris Civilis", a monumental work which provided the foundation of the legal systems of nearly every European country down to the present time.