“In 426 came the famous lex de responsis prudentium — the Law of Citations…. This law lessened the difficulties of the courts in dealing with juristic literature. It excluded a huge mass of conflicting doctrine, the relative value of which had not been determined, and which yet had to be used by the judges as a source of principle on which to base their decisions.” W.W. Buckland, A Text-Book of Roman Law from Augustus to Justinian 33 (Peter Stein ed., 3d ed. 1963).
citations law of
Citations, Law of. Roman law. An A.D. 426 decree of Emperor Valentinian III listing Papinian, Paul, Gaius, Ulpian, and Modestinus as juristic writers who could be cited authoritatively in court. • If a majority of the writers agreed on an issue, the judge was bound to follow the majority view. The Law of Citations allowed the judge to use discretion only if the writers were equally divided and Papinian (whose view prevailed in a tie) was silent on the issue.
