SYRO-ROMAN BOOK OF LAW. — This is the name given by modern scholars to an Eastern legal compilation which, in different versions, bears the titles *Axaxóqaxa*, *Leges saeculares*, and *Leges Constantini Theodosii Leonis*. The S. R. B. of L. was composed, according to the most widespread opinion, in Greek; according to another, in Latin (the original is lost), in the second half of the 5th century, and, with every probability, was intended for use in *épiscopalis audientia* (q.v.). The Syriac versions (Paris and London) must instead be attributed to the 7th or 8th century. The other existing versions are an Arabic, an Armenian, and three Aramaic (Vatican Library).
Drawn up, as has been said, for practical purposes and perhaps also for school use, it contains an original nucleus of civil law dealing with the four topics usually grouped together (dowry, guardianship, wills, legacies); followed by scant elements of criminal law, civil and criminal procedure, and administrative law. The Paris manuscript presents in its treatment the order of the Sabinian system.
The first edition was made by Land (1862); the principal one is that of E. Sachau (*Syro-Roman Law Books*, I, 1907, with German translation). The Latin translation, the work of Ferrini, was republished, after revision by G. Furlani, in *Fontes iuris romani anteiustiniani*, II, 1, 1924, pp. 759–98, with extensive bibliographical notes.