the kingdom of Persia, and
their laws were the subject of conversation and notoriety. Haman speaks of
them to the king as differing from the laws of all other people.

The oldest and most noted legislators and wise men took their laws from
the law of Moses. The Egyptians and the Phoenicians borrowed from the
Jewish laws. Ancient and modern writers affirm that the individuals
commissioned by the Senate and tribune under Justinian to form the "Twelve
Tables" were directed to examine the laws of Athens and the Grecian
cities. This took them at once to the consideration of many of the laws of
Moses. Zell, in his Encyclopedia, says: The glory of Justinian's reign is
the famous digest of the Roman law, known generally as the Justinian code,
which was compiled out of the Gregorian, Theodorian and Hermogenian codes,
by ten of the ablest lawyers of the empire, under the guiding genius of
the Jurisconsult Tribonian. Their labors consisted, first, of the "Statute
Law." Second, The "Pandects," a digest of the decisions and opinions of
former magistrates and lawyers. These two compilations consisted of matter
that lay scattered through more than two thousand volumes, now reduced to
fifty. Third, The "Institutes," an abridgement in four books, containing
the substance of all the laws in the elementary form. Fourth, The laws of
_modern date_, including Justinian's own edicts, collected into one volume
and called the "New Code."

The word "Pandects" is a term of great importance in the investigation of
the origin of the Roman laws; it points directly and certainly to the fact
that the Roman laws, known as the _Pandects_, were gathered from all laws,
for such is the import of the term itself when it is associated with the
term _laws_. Moreover, it is a Greek term, showing at once that the
Grecian laws contributed largely to the _Pandects_ of the Roman laws. The
term is defined by Liddel and Scott in the words, _all-receiving,
all-containing_, so the _Pandects_ were gathered from _all laws_,
consequently from the laws of Moses as well as from the Grecian laws,
which were largely from the laws of Moses. This relationship, existing in
the science of law, between the laws of the Bible and the Roman laws
gotten up under Justinian, can be set aside by the infidels when stubborn
facts, as well as similitude, are set aside.

Sir Matthew Hale says: Among the many preferences which the laws of
England have above others, the two principal ones ar