Cesarskie prawodawstwo zakonne sprzed Kodeksu Justyniana Wielkiego

Since Constantine the Great Caesar law started to play a double role in the world where Christians lived. It regulated the laws of a lay community – which aimed at the worldly objectives but also the life of the Church herself, whose basic objectives are directed towards the supernatural sphere. It was a kind of ius commune which shaped the collection of legal norms according to the Christian perspective. Till the times of Justinian I Caesar norms in relation to monastic life were directed by the need of the hour. Their formation, however, gives some idea what in the eyes of rulers was a problem which was necessary to solve on the border of monasticism and the life of a lay community. Depending on the regulation subject we can classify a group of laws applying to the people who had to perform public duties, then to the people who did not enjoy full freedom (slaves, coloni), married couples, then laws regulating the discipline of monastic life in monasteries and laws applying to monks and monasteries in a lay community (particularly regarding system of justice, property law and public order).