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ER 2215
The Emperors Valens, Gratian, and Valentinian issue a law according to which bishops can be judged by secular courts only if accused of criminal charges. Other matters should be decided by diocesan synods. Interpretation added to the law in the Breviary specifies that diocesan synods are the gathering of presbyters. The law issued on 17 May 376, included in the Theodosian Code published in 438 and in the Breviary of Alaric, published in 506 in Gaul.
XVI.2.23 = Brev. XVI.1.3
 
IMPPP. VALENS, GRATIANUS ET VALENTINIANUS AAA. ARTEMIO, EURYDICO, APPIO, GERASIMO ET CETERIS EPISCOPIS. Qui mos est causarum civilium, idem in negotiis ecclesiasticis obtinendus est: ut, si qua sunt ex quibusdam dissensionibus levibusque delictis ad religionis observantiam pertinentia, locis suis et a suae dioeceseos synodis audiantur: exceptis, quae actio criminalis ab ordinariis extraordinariisque iudicibus aut illustribus potestatibus audienda constituit. DAT. XVI. KAL. IUN. TREVIRIS, VALENTE V. ET VALENTINIANE AA. COSS.
 
INTERPRETATIO. Quoties ex qualibet re ad religionem pertinente inter clericos fuerit nata contentio, id specialiter observetur, ut convocatis ab episcopo dioecesanis presbyteris, quae in contentionem venerint, iudicio terminentur. Sane si quid opponitur criminale, ad notitiam iudicis in civitate, qua agitur, deducatur, ut ipsius sententia vindicetur, quod probatur criminaliter fuisse commissum.
 
(ed. Mommsen 1905: 842)
XVI.2.23 = Brev. XVI.1.3
 
EMPERORS VALENS, GRATIAN, AND VALENTINIAN AUGUSTI TO ARTEMIUS, EURYDICUS, APPIUS, GERASIMUS, AND ALL OTHER BISHOPS. Whatever is customary in the conduct of civil suits shall likewise be observed in ecclesiastical litigation, so that if there are any matters arising from certain dissensions and slight offenses pertaining to religious observance, they shall be heard in their own places and by the synods of their own diocese, with the exception of those matters which criminal action has established shall be heard by ordinary and extraordinary judges or by the Illustrious authorities. GIVEN ON THE SIXTEENTH DAY BEFORE THE KALENDS OF JUNE AT TRIER IN THE YEAR OF THE FIFTH CONSULSHIP OF VALENS AUGUSTUS AND THE FIRST CONSULSHIP OF VALENTINIAN AUGUSTUS [=17 May 376].
 
INTERPRETATION: As often as a contention arises among clerics, out of any matter pertaining to religion, the rule shall especially be observed that the diocesan presbyters shall be convoked by the bishop, and the matters which have come into contention shall be terminated by their decision. However, if any criminal allegation is made, it shall be brought to the notice of the judge in the municipality in which the action is brought, in order that whatever is proved to have been committed criminally shall be punished by his sentence.
 
(trans. Pharr 1952: 444; lightly adapted)

Discussion:

We do not know the sees of the bishops to whom the law is addressed. See Delmaire 2005: 166-167.

Place of event:

Region
  • East
  • Gaul
City
  • Constantinople
  • Trier

About the source:

Title: Codex Theodosianus, Code of Theodosius, Theodosian Code, Breviary of Alaric, Lex Romana Visigothorum
Origin: Constantinople (East), Trier (Gaul)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
The Theodosian Code is a compilation of the Roman legislation from the times of the Emperor Constantine to the times of Theodosius II. The work was begun in 427 and finished in autumn 437 when it was accepted for publication. It was promulgated in February 438 and came into effect from the beginning of the year 439.
 
The compilation consist of sixteen books in which all imperial constitutions are gathered beginning with the year 312. Books 1-5 did not survive and are reconstructed from the manuscripts of the Lex Romana Visigothorum, i.e. the Breviary of Alaric, the legal corpus published in 506 by the Visigothic king, Alaric, containing excerpts from the Theodosian Code equipped with explanatory notes (interpretationes), post-Theodosian novels and several other juristic texts.
 
A new compilation was undertaken during the reign of the emperor Justinian. A committee of ten persons prepared and promulgated the Codex in 529. It was quickly outdated because of the legislative activities of the emperor and therefore its revised version had to be published in 534. The Codex together with the novels, the Pandecta, a digest of juristic writings, and the Institutes, an introductory handbook are known under the medieval name "Corpus Iuris Civilis".
Edition:
Theodor Mommsen and Paul Martin Meyer (eds.), Theodosiani libri XVI cum constitutionibus Sirmondianis et leges novellae ad Theodosianum pertinentes, 2 vols., Berlin 1905
Paul Krüger (ed.), Codex Iustinianus, Berlin 1877
Gustav Hänel (ed.), Lex Romana Visigothorum, Leipzig 1849
 
Translations:
The Theodosian Code and Novels and the Sirmondian Constitutions, a translation with commentary, glossary, and bibliography by C. Pharr, Princeton 1952
Les lois religieuses des empereurs romains de Constantin à Théodose (312-438), v. 1, Code Théodosien livre XVI, text latin Th. Mommsen, trad. J. Rougé, introduction et notes R. Delmaire avec collab. F. Richard, Paris 2005
Bibliography:
(all those entries with extenstive, recent bibliography)
 
G. Savagnone, "Le origini del sinodo diocesano, e l'interpretatio alla c. 23, C. Th. XVI, 2", Studi in onore di Biagio Brugi, Palermo 1910

Categories:

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
    Described by a title - Clericus
      Ecclesiastical administration - Participation in councils and ecclesiastical courts
        Public law - Secular
          Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior
            Administration of justice - Ecclesiastical
              Administration of justice - Secular
                Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER2215, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=2215
                Record by: Marta Szada
                last edited: 2019-08-12 10:25:54
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