Dorotheus (jurist)

Dorotheus (

As a method of teaching, the ancient law professors (so-called antecessores) used to write commentaries (sometimes mere translations) on all parts of Justinian's law. While Justinian's law was promulgated in Latin, these commentaries were written in Greek, because lawyers (students and practitioners) were hardly able to read Latin anymore.[4] Fragments of this commentary, which was in the Greek language, have been preserved in the Scholia appended to the body of law compiled by order of the emperor Basilius the Macedonian and his son Leo the Wise, in the 9th century, known as the Basilica.^[5]

From this, it seems probable that the commentary of Dorotheus contained the substance of a course of lectures on the Digest delivered by him in the law school of Berytus. This course of lectures followed a strict order, which was prescribed by Justinian in his constitutio Omnem. According to this schedule the Institutes, a part of the Digest (Books 1 - 22) and all of the code were taught successively and most of the lecture would consist of dictation. In this dictation pattern comes firstly the Index of the statute at stake, secondly the original text in Latin and thirdly the veritable lecture on conceptual, literal and substantial problems of the respective provision.^[6]

References

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Dorotheus".

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Dorotheus". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 431.