The (also known as , and ) is a collection of 96,940 marginal annotations () in Latin by the Italian jurist Accursius () on the , a collection of Roman law by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I (). The name refers to fact that the gloss by Accursius was the "ordinary" or "standard" gloss on the .

Modern scholarship contends that the maintained its authoritative status as leading commentary on the in Europe up to the 17th century, which is signified by the adage "" ().

Author, development and usage Author

Accursius () was an Italian jurist born near Florence who studied at the University of Bologna under Azo and Jacobus Balduinus. Some time before 1220, he started teaching law at this university. He was highly regarded for his teaching and became rich – his large palace in Bologna is now part of the Palazzo d'Accursio. Some scholars contend that he participated in extortionate transactions with students and accepted gifts during examination procedures.

Accursius was part of the school of glossators in Bologna, who annotated the with ('interlinear gloss') or ('marginal gloss') and made this Byzantine law collection of the 6th century practical and useful for the circumstances and needs of Europe in the 13th century.

Development Accursius' work on the probably started in the 1220s, continued for several decades, and was probably completed around 1250. It is generally believed that he glossed the first, but other details about his process of composition are unknown. The material for the was gathered from earlier commentary by Azo, Hugolianus and Johannes Bassianus; Accursius likely also used commentary by Odofredus, Symon Vincentius and Jacobus Balduinus.

The was the last of the glosses by the glossators. In the view of the legal scholar Robert Figueira, it "provide[s] an unsurpassed and exact reference to parallel and contrary texts within , and it absorbed, summarized, and perpetuated the work of many important earlier glossators for posterity".

Content Overview The differs from earlier glossatorial work only in its completeness and its size; it is the largest of the glosses. It consists of 96,940 separate marginal annotations () to all parts of the and the , which were compiled by the glossators. The contains about 2,000,000 words.

62,577 annotations concern the . 21,933 annotations concern the . 7,013 annotations concern the (without books 10–12). 4,737 annotations concern the . 680 annotations concern the .

The uses various to clarify which author is used as the authority for a specific marginal annotation. The referenced authorities are Azo (3,879 references), Johannes Bassianus (1,850 references), Hugolinus (1,030 references), (920 references), Martinus (590 references), Placentinus (520 references), Irnerius (330 references), Bulgarus (315 references), Albericus (230 references), Pillius (165 references), Jacobus (30 references) and Hugo (10 references). Unusually for legal glosses, the also references Canon law, if sparsely: The is cited 260 times, while Papal decretals are cited 125 times.

Example To illustrate what a gloss of the is, the following example is provided: Within the Corpus Iuris Civilis, Dig. 47.11.4, states: "The deified Severus and Antoninus [Caracalla] issued a rescript stating that a woman who obtained an abortion (abegit) should be sent into temporary exile (exilium) by the governor. For it would seem shameful for her to have defrauded her husband of children with impunity." Accursius' gloss on this sentence is as follows:

Historical usage and modern recognition Historical usage Accursius' Glossa was immediately adopted for teaching and legal practise in Italy. It superseded the previous glosses, and lawyers after 1250 rarely attempted new glosses. According to the legal scholar Robert Figueira, the popularity and usefulness of the rests on the completeness of its analysis of the and Accursius' ability to avoid contradictions within the . He stated that all contradictions could be resolved ("").

The was widely used in Italy from the second half of the 13th century onwards. In Northern Italy, it held a dominant position in legal practise and during the 15th century it was still the starting point for Italian legal inquiry. In France, it was not as well received, but still known. In Germany, the was known since the end of the 13th century. Its enduring influence is signified by the adage "" (), which was coined in 17th century Germany. In Spain, it heavily influenced the , while it even held formal legal value in Portugal under the Alfonsine Ordinances. Modern scholarship argues that the maintained its authoritative status in Europe up to the 17th century.

Modern recognition The modern recognition of the differs: In the 19th century, the leading German jurist Friedrich Carl von Savigny, was critical of the work. He argued that Accursius was a "collector without judgment" (""), nevertheless acknowledging that the was of similar value for later centuries as the itself (""). Afterwards, a more positive reception prevailed. Otto von Gierke, a German jurist and historian of the 19th and 20th century, noted that the "remains the starting point of modern jurisprudence". An evaluation of the work by the German legal scholar in 2017 says:

Editions Manuscripts

Around 1,200 manuscripts of the with the in the margins are known. On some manuscripts, a previous gloss was erased so that the could be copied into the margins instead.

Printings No modern critical edition of the exists. The first print of the gloss was done in Mainz in 1476. Another printed edition was produced in Venice in five parts in 1487–1489. This incunable edition was reprinted as a facsimile in Turin by Ex Officina Erasmiana as part of the (CGIC) series (volumes 7–11) in 1968 and 1969.

The individual volumes of the reprinting and the original incunable are:

+ (CGIC) VII–XI and the reproduced 1487–1489 incunable printings CGIC Volume CGIC title Corpus Iuris Civilis Original printing Original printing reference numbers Original printing online version Ref. VII Accursii Glossa in Digestum vetus, 1969 (OCLC 123217764) Digestum vetus ( 1.1–24.2) Venice: Baptista de Tortis, 4 August 1488 GW 7667 ISTC ij00550000  C-604 BSB VIII Accursii Glossa in Digestum infortiatum, 1968 (OCLC 4458578) Infortiatum (Dig. 24.3–38) Venice: Baptista de Tortis, 8 April 1488 GW 7687 ISTC ij00557500 BSB-Ink C-617 BSB IX Accursii Glossa in Digestum novum, 1968 (OCLC 4458604) Digestum novum (Dig. 39–50) Venice: Baptista de Tortis, 9 January 1487/88 GW 7711 ISTC ij00569600 BSB-Ink C-588 BSB X Accursii Glossa in Codicem, 1968 (OCLC 4458652) Codex ( 1–9) Venice: Baptista de Tortis, 8 December 1488 GW 7736 ISTC ij00581500 BSB-Ink C-569 — XI Accursii Glossa in Volumen, 1969 (OCLC 4458678) Institutiones Venice: Baptista de Tortis, 1 July 1489 GW 7621 ISTC ij00532000 BSB-Ink C-654 BSB Authenticum () Tres libri (Cod. 10–12) Libri Feudorum Extravagantes Venice: Baptista de Tortis, 7 May 1489 GW 7762 BSB-Ink C-552 BSB

See also – a principle of property law principle traced back to the Glossa by Accursius (note to Dig. 8.2.1)

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