PIACENTINO. — Jurist of the 12th century, born in Piacenza, one of the leading representatives of the school of Bologna. There is no reliable information concerning the date of his birth. It is generally held that he completed his studies at Bologna.
P. first taught at Mantua, where he composed the work De varietate actionum, which he later called Summa Mantuana. He then went to Bologna, where apparently he did not remain for many years: a bitter rivalry with certain colleagues at the Bolognese Studium induced him to go into exile in France, where he founded a school of law at Montpellier. In this city he wrote, among other works, the most considerable of his productions, the Summa Codicis, which, although initially conceived as an appendix to Rogerio’s unfinished Summa, instead appeared in its definitive form as a complete treatise on the first nine books of the Justinian Code.
Although precise information concerning the dates is lacking, it is certain that after several years P. returned to Bologna, from which he subsequently moved to Piacenza, continuing his teaching activity in both places. Later he returned to Montpellier, where he died on 12 February 1192, as is shown by the epitaph inscribed on his tomb.
In addition to De varietate actionum and Summa Codicis (the sole edition of this work is that of Mainz, 1536), P. was the author of a Summa Institutionum, a Summa Placuit concerning the system of evidence, and the Additiones to Bulgaro’s Regulae Iuris. He also wrote various glosses on the entire Corpus Iuris, glosses preserved in the apparatus of Accursius: they bear the siglum P., and scholarly opinion is unanimous in attributing them to him.