Graecum Legitur: A Star is Born
Graecum Legitur: A Star is Born

Summary/Abstract: Alciatus’ celebrated status as the founder of legal humanism lies in that he was the first to draw specifically juristic conclusions from the application of the philological method to the legal texts. Unlike Budé and the Italian humanists of the Quattrocento, Alciatus (1492–1550) did not merely propound a new understanding of a Latin or Greek word, suggest a textual emendation, or provide a historical context, but went on to show how these affected the traditional juristic interpretation of a passage of the Digest or Code. In the final chapter of Book 1 of his Dispunctiones (1518) we can observe Alciatus deploying, to magnificent effect, the new humanist techniques in the field of Roman law.

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