Although educated primarily in the common law, the Founding Generation was keenly aware of the Roman Civil Law, and referred to it frequently during the Constitution’s framing and ratification.  The following website collects, in searchable word processing and PDF formats, the principal compilations of classical Roman law.

Institutes of Roman Law by Gaius

Institutes of Roman Law by Gaius
PDF format
file size = 668 KB; Latin

Institutes of Roman Law by Gaius
MS Word format
file size = 862 KB; Latin

Digest of Justinian

Digest of Justinian
PDF format
file size = 1,345 KB; Latin

Digest of Justinian
MS Word format
file size = 12,257 KB; Latin

The Institutes of Justinian

The Institutes of Justinian
PDF format
file size = 541 KB; Latin

The Codex of Justinian

The Codex of Justinian
PDF format
file size = 3,610 KB; Latin

The Codex of Justinian
MS Word format
file size = 4,109 KB; Latin

Credits

Robert G. Natelson, Senior Fellow in Constitutional Jurisprudence at the Independence Institute. (At the time, he was Professor of Law at The University of Montana.)

Rebecca Natelson Chertudi (then age 16), Rob’s daughter, grew up in Montana. She learned Latin from birth.

Rebecca obtained perfect scores on the National Latin Exam three times, won a National Merit Scholarship, and graduated from Washington and Lee University in Virginia, earning a degree in East Asian Studies. She also speaks Japanese, and, together with her husband, James Chertudi, taught English in Japan for three years. More recently, she has taught Latin at a classical school in Whitefish, Montana.