In Quator Institutionum Imperalium Justiniani, Commentarii [Commentaries Upon the Institutes (Codex) of Justinian]

Pagination: [blank], [frontis.], [3], [Appendix, 8], 1-1904 (double-columned; two page numbers to a page). Index [94]. Thick 4to. Bound in vellum with yapped edges and a leather spine in compartments, and bears the copperplate engraved frontispiece of Schneidewein. The vellum shows wear and some soiling. It appears that the joints were at some time in the past repaired, with glue residue showing on boards. Spine leather chipped, and joints beginning to crack at spine ends. Front hinge neatly repaired. Contents tight, with some marginal wear to preliminary pages, else clean with only some very light foxing. Overall, a good+ copy of an important early legal and philosophical text. Johann Schneidewein (1519-1568) was a German jurist. At the age of eleven, he entered the University of Wittenberg and became acquainted with Martin Luther, when he was a boarder at his house in 1544. At first, Scheidewein studied what we would now describe as the 'liberal arts'. He then turned his attention to the study of law and was granted the degree of licentiate in 1545 (some accounts say 1544). For the next four years he taught and, in 1551, was granted a professorhip in law at the university. In the years prior to his death, he was often consulted on legal matters of state, and several times took part in deputations to the imperial court at Speyer. He died in Wittenberg in 1568, and his tomb at the Castle Church in that city is close to Luther's. His main work was his Commentaries on Justinian, which were edited by Matthias Wesenbeck and first published in 1573.…