Sirmondian constitutions

The Sirmondian Constitutions are a collection of sixteen Imperial Codes passed between AD 333 and 425, dealing with "bishops courts", or laws dealing with church matters.^[1] They take their name from their first editor, Jacques Sirmond. Some of the laws appeared in abbreviated form in the Theodosian Code. The full collection survives only in a single early medieval manuscript now in Berlin, termed the Codex Lugdunensis.

The Constitution's authenticity is disputed. Some historians, such as Elisabeth Magnou-Nortier, think they are church forgeries; others, such as Olivier Huck, find them genuine.^[2] Recent work has tended to suggest that they are essentially genuine but may have been edited, perhaps as part of preparations for the Second Council of Mâcon in 582.^[3]

Editions

The standard edition is Theodosiani libri XVI cum Constitutionibus Sirmondianis et Leges Novellae ad  Theodosianum pertinentes, edited by T. Mommsen and P. M. Meyer, in 2 volumes in Berlin in1905.

The English language version is The Theodosian Code and Novels and the Sirmondian Constitutions. A Translation with Commentary, Glossary, and Bibliography, translated and edited by C. Pharr and published in New York, in 1952.