Roman & Canon Law

Vocabularius Utriusq [ue] Juris : (Roman & Canon Law, 1488)

Vocabulari[us] Vtriusq[ue] Iuris, 1532

Vocabvlarivm Vtrivsqve Ivris, 1559

This was considered an extremely useful and popular legal reference work; to whit: first published in 1474 in Basel, Switzerland, it passed through more than seventy editions in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It is an authoritative collection of terms and concepts taken from legal texts spanning the twelfth – fifteenth centuries, including the Vocabularius Stuttgardiensis (1432), the Collectio Terminorum Legalium (ca. 1400), and the Introductorium pro Studio Sacrorum Canonum of Hermann von Schildesch (ca. 1330). The Vocabularius was reputedly compiled by a jurist of Erfurt University named Jodocus, who signed some manuscripts of the text. The chief source of information on the book is without doubt, Emil Seckel's, Beiträge zur Geschichte beider Rechte im Mittelalter (Tübingen: H. Laupp, 1898) which includes 500 pages devoted exclusively to the "History of the Vocabularius and the Related Legal Encyclopedias of the Middle Ages."

The Vocabularius was intended not for use by the jurists, but rather by non-lawyers, the only partially educated (unteren Bildungschichte). The great success of the Vocabularius demonstrated an active dissemination of and reference to the Ius Commune among the population, and shows that the work was a central channel of that process, Seckel says.

The paper and the two-column text of our 1488 copy are still in wonderful, readable condition, a testament to incunabular printing and papermaking. This copy illustrates the practical nature of dictionaries; while the printer left space for illuminated capitals, the owner, perhaps a student who couldn't afford such luxuries, chose to leave his book unadorned.

This dictionary from 1488 was recently acquired as Tarlton's symbolic Million-and-First Volume. As the 1523 Rastell dictionary caps the strong foundation this library has created with its first million books, this work ushers in a new era as Tarlton continues to build its collections.

Novum Lexicon : (Roman & Canon Law, 1597)

This small octavo volume is a first edition of this dictionary of Roman and Canon law, collected from the works of Elio Antonio de Nebrija, Pierre Gromors, Alexandrus Scotus, and others. The compiler has also added legal terms that more recently came into use, derived from contemporaries. The text is in fact dedicated, in a rather long epistola, to Alexandrus Scotus. This is accompanied by a rather long but charming preface in which the compiler discusses the use of language and oratory in the works of Homer. The compiler often referenced classical authors, in fact, in the definitions themselves.

The two column text is full of common-sense definitions, many of which are not directly related to legal matters. .

Lexicon Iuridicum : (Roman & Canon Law, 1607)

The compiler of this work was probably its publisher, Jacob Stoer, although it is sometimes confusingly connected with the works of Barnabé Brisson. It is a useful early dictionary. The compiler added notes on the typography and notes to the reader. Most interestingly, he listed his Greek and Latin sources he consulted to write his work. He believed his definitions are taken from the very best sources, and wanted his readers to consult them. It is a rather extensive list; he listed authors such as Albericus and Brisson, as well as Solon, Hippocrates, Varro, Demosthenes, Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates.

Bibliography