VATICAN FRAGMENTS. - This was the name given to a collection of pre-Justinianic law discovered by Cardinal A. Mai in the Vatican palimpsest lat. 5766, and published by him with the help of Bluhme in 1823. Its author is uncertain; the collection has not come down to us complete, but lacking various parts: it is a mixture of doctrine and legislation, the latter almost entirely from the Diocletianic period and perhaps drawn from the Gregorian and Hermogenian Codes.

The collection, dealing with purely civil law, treats principally of sale, usufruct, the various forms of dowry, guardianship and donations. In chapters 173 and 174 certain cases of exemption from guardianship are set out for those who assumed the priesthood. The F. V. were edited by A. Mai in Juris civilis anteiustiniani reliquiae (Rome 1823); the most recent edition is that of A. Baviera, in Fontes iuris Romani anteiustinianei, II, Florence 1940, pp. 460-540.

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: P. Krueger, Geschichte der Rechtsquellen, 2nd ed., Leipzig 1912; W. Felgenstraeger, Zur Entstehungsgeschichte der F. V., in Freiburger rechtsgeschichtliche Abhandlungen, 3 (1925), pp. 27-42.

Antonio Rota

@incollection{ec5_fragmenta_vaticana, author = {Rota, Antonio}, title = {Fragmenta Vaticana}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {V}, pages = {1565--1566}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/fragmenta-vaticana} }

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Vatican Fragments

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