pandect

Meaning

Noun

• Usually in the plural form Pandects: a compendium or digest of writings on Roman law divided in 50 books, compiled in the 6th century by order of the Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I (–565).
• Also in the plural form pandects: a comprehensive collection of laws; specifically, the whole body of law of a country; a legal code.
• A treatise or similar work that is comprehensive as to a particular topic; specifically a manuscript of the entire Bible.

Origin

• Sense 1 (“compendium of writings on Roman law”) in the plural form Pandects is from Late Latin pandectae, the plural of pandectēs, modelled after (Byzantine) Ancient Greek πανδέκται, the plural of πανδέκτης: see further above.