The Sirmondian Constitutions are a collection of sixteen Imperial Codes passed between AD 333 and 425, dealing with "bishops courts", or laws dealing with church matters. They take their name from their first editor,

Jacques Sirmond Jacques Sirmond (12 or 22 October 1559 – 7 October 1651) was a French scholar and Jesuit. Simond was born at Riom, Auvergne. He was educated at the Jesuit College of Billom; having been a novice at Verdun and then at Pont-Mousson, he ent ...

. Some of the laws appeared in abbreviated form in the

Theodosian Code The ''Codex Theodosianus'' (Eng. Theodosian Code) was a compilation of the laws of the Roman Empire under the Christian emperors since 312. A commission was established by Emperor Theodosius II and his co-emperor Valentinian III on 26 March 429 a ...

. The full collection survives only in a single early medieval manuscript now in Berlin, termed the ''Codex Lugdunensis''. The Constitution's authenticity is disputed. Some historians, such as Elisabeth Magnou-Nortier, think they are church forgeries; others, such as Olivier Huck, find them genuine. Recent work has tended to suggest that they are essentially genuine but may have been edited, perhaps as part of preparations for the Second Council of Mâcon in 582.

Editions

The standard edition is ''Theodosiani libri XVI cum Constitutionibus Sirmondianis et Leges Novellae ad Theodosianum pertinentes'', edited by T. Mommsen and P. M. Meyer, in 2 volumes in Berlin in1905. The English language version is ''The Theodosian Code and Novels and the Sirmondian Constitutions. A Translation with Commentary, Glossary, and Bibliography'', translated and edited by C. Pharr and published in New York, in 1952.

References

{{Reflist Roman law codes