Some Remarks on the Lectures on Papinian’s Quaestiones Held by Jacques Cujas (1522-1590)

Abstract

Jacques Cujas (1522-1590) was undoubtedly the most eminent French legal humanist of the sixteenth century. With the principle or motto: doctis scribo, indoctis lego, he seems to have distinguished so clearly the two academic activities as scholar and as teacher. Papinian’s Quaestiones, written probably between 193 CE-198 CE, was, and is, reputed to be one of the most complicated, sophisticated, even obscure (dunkel), and laconic casuistic legal works during the classical period of Roman jurisprudence. It would therefore be suitable material for doctis scribo rather than indoctis lego. But Cujas tried to hold lectures on Papinian’s Quaestiones according to his own Palingenesia. The lectures were first published as commentaries (commentaria accuratissima in libeos quaestionum Æmilii Papiniani) after his death, i.e., in his Opera postuma. This article will show how Cujas succeeded admirably in teaching so difficult materials, fragments of Papinian by examining his commentaries on some texts carefully. Cujas made a reconstruction (Palingenesia) of all the fragments from the Quaestiones according to the original order of 37 books (libri) but put them within each book (liber) in the order of Justinian’s Digest. Before interpreting each text, he offered a convincing explanation of the excellence of Papinian compared with other Roman jurists in the classical period.