GAIUS

flourished AD 130, 180 also spelled Caius Roman jurist whose writings became authoritative under the late Roman Empire. In the Law of Citations (426), the Western emperor Valentinian III named him one of the five jurists (the others were Papinian, Ulpian, Modestinus, and Paulus) whose doctrines were to be followed by judges in deciding cases. The Institutes (Latin, Institutiones) of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I (reigned 527565), which were intended to supersede Gaius' treatise of the same name, were modeled on the older work in style and content, numerous passages being copied verbatim. Gaius' full name and most of his personal history are unknown. Besides the Institutiones, he wrote a commentary on the Twelve Tables (laws said to have been enacted about 450 BC, under the Roman monarchy), a treatise on the edicts of Roman magistrates, and several other works. The Institutiones of Gaius, written about AD 161, comprise four books. The first concerns the legal status of persons; the second and third, property rights, including inheritance; and the fourth, forms of legal actions. The text was lost until 1816, when a manuscript, probably of the 5th century, was discovered at Verona, Italy. It was deciphered with great difficulty, because writings of St. Jerome had been superimposed on Gaius' words.