CODEX HERMOGENIANUS. — This is a private collection of imperial constitutions compiled, as most scholars believe, between 314 and 323 A.D., since some constitutions attributed to the emperors Constantine and Licinius still include mention of the latter emperor, a mention that was later suppressed, as appears in the corresponding constitutions of the Codex Theodosianus. This occurred by order of 323 A.D., by which all acts of the emperor Licinius were annulled.
The C. H. is attributed to a jurist named Hermogenianus, who may or may not be the same jurist whose fragments are cited in the Digest.
The work is arranged in a single book divided into several titles, under which the relevant constitutions were grouped. Most of the constitutions are dated from the East and attributed to the emperor Diocletian, leading to the supposition that the collection was compiled in the eastern territories. This could also suggest the origin of the compiler of the code.
Like the Codex Gregorianus, the C. H. does not introduce new law but aims to secure existing law that had already entered into common use. The other code also appears to have had the purpose of informing practitioners and introducing students to the law.
The C. H. is not known directly in its original form but through fragments VATICANO (v.), Collatio legum Mosaicarum et Romanarum (v.), the Collatio veteris cuiusdam iurisconsulti (v.), and the Romano-barbaric laws of the Visigoths and Burgundians.
Krüger provided a new edition of these fragments in vol. III of the Collectio librorum iuris anteiustiniani (Berlin 1900).
The C. H. must have originally included constitutions on religious matters. This is suggested by the numerous religious constitutions included in the Theodosian Code for the corresponding period. However, in the surviving fragments preserved in later collections, no ecclesiastical provisions are found.