Azo of Bologna or Azzo or Azolenus ( 1150–1230) was an influential Italian
jurist
A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...
and a member of the school of the so-called
glossator
The scholars of the 11th- and 12th-century legal schools in Italy, France and Germany are identified as glossators in a specific sense. They studied Roman law based on the '' Digesta'', the ''Codex'' of Justinian, the ''Authenticum'' (an abridged ...
s. Born circa 1150 in
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...
, Azo studied under
Joannes Bassianus Joannes Bassianus was an Italian jurist of the 12th century.
Life
Little is known of his origin, but he is said by his jurist contemporary Carolus de Tocco (Carlo di Tocco) to have been a native of Cremona. He was a professor in the law school o ...
and became professor of civil law at
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...
. He is sometimes known as Azo Soldanus, from his father's surname, and also Azzo Porcius (dei Porci), to distinguish him from later famous Italians named
Azzo. He died circa 1230.
Azo wrote glosses on all parts of the ''
Corpus Iuris Civilis
The ''Corpus Juris'' (or ''Iuris'') ''Civilis'' ("Body of Civil Law") is the modern name for a collection of fundamental works in jurisprudence, issued from 529 to 534 by order of Justinian I, Byzantine Emperor. It is also sometimes referred ...
''. His most influential work is his ''Summa Codicis'', a commentary of the civil law organized according to the order of
Justinian
Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565.
His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...
's
Code
In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communication ...
. The ''Summa Codicis'', and , collected by his pupil, Alessandro de Santo Aegidio, and amended by Hugolinus and
Odofredus
Odofredus (died 3 December 1265) was an Italian jurist. He was born in Ostia and moved to Bologna, studying law under Jacobus Balduinus and Franciscus Accursius. After working as an advocate in Italy and France, he became a law professor in Bolog ...
, formed a methodical exposition of Roman law. As one of the very few medieval legal texts in Latin, the ''Summa Codicis'' has been translated into
Old French
Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligib ...
.
Azo's works enjoyed great authority among generations of continental lawyers, such that it used to be said, , roughly translated: "Who hasn't Azo on his side, will not go to court," neither as a plaintiff nor as judge. Azo's ''Summa Codicis'', was also used (and often copied verbatim) by
Henry Bracton in his account of English law. Azo's many
glosses
A gloss is a brief notation, especially a marginal one or an interlinear one, of the meaning of a word or wording in a text. It may be in the language of the text or in the reader's language if that is different.
A collection of glosses is a ''g ...
were ultimately incorporated into the ''
Great Gloss'' of his pupil,
Accursius
__NOTOC__
Accursius (in Italian ''Accursio'' or ''Accorso di Bagnolo''; c. 11821263) was a Roman jurist. He is notable for his organization of the glosses, the medieval comments on Justinian's codification of Roman law, the ''Corpus Juris Civili ...
.
Works
* ''Summa codicis''
* ''Lectura''
**
* ''Glossae''
* ''Brocarda''
See also
*
Codex Justinianeus
The Code of Justinian ( la, Codex Justinianus, or ) is one part of the ''Corpus Juris Civilis'', the codification of Roman law ordered early in the 6th century AD by Justinian I, who was Byzantine Empire, Eastern Roman emperor in Constantinople. ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
Works of Azo of Bologna at ParalipomenaIuris
{{DEFAULTSORT:Azo
12th-century Italian jurists
12th-century Latin writers
13th-century Italian jurists