Definition
The Infortiatum is the second of three volumes into which medieval jurists at Bologna divided the Pandects (Digest) of Justinian. It occupies the middle portion of that great compilation of Roman law, falling between the Digestum Vetus (Old Digest) and the Digestum Novum (New Digest).
The division arose from circumstance rather than design. The glossators at Bologna initially possessed only two parts of the Pandects — the Digestum Vetus and the Digestum Novum. When the middle portion was later recovered and brought to Bologna, it could not simply be inserted into either existing volume. Instead, it was treated as an independent third part. Because this recovered section was used to "strengthen" or enlarge the existing collection, the glossators called it the Infortiatum — a term Burrill traces to the Latin infortiare, meaning to enlarge or reinforce.
Common Confusion
Researchers should not conflate the Infortiatum with the Pandects as a whole, nor with either of the other two parts (Digestum Vetus or Digestum Novum). The three names refer to portions of a single work, divided by historical accident of manuscript survival and transmission. The Infortiatum has no independent legal standing apart from its position within Justinian's Digest. Additionally, the term should not be confused with Infortunium, a distinct legal term appearing in Rapalje & Lawrence in the adjacent entry, referring to accidental homicide committed during a lawful act.
Why It Matters in Research
The Infortiatum matters primarily to researchers working in the history of Roman law, medieval jurisprudence, or the reception of Roman law in Western Europe. Several navigational points deserve attention.
First, the tripartite division of the Pandects — Digestum Vetus, Infortiatum, Digestum Novum — is an artifact of manuscript transmission, not a structural feature of Justinian's original compilation. Researchers encountering references to these divisions in medieval or early modern sources should understand that they reflect how texts were physically received and taught at Bologna, not any inherent organization of the Digest itself. A citation to a passage "in the Infortiatum" in a medieval gloss or commentary is a citation to a location within Justinian's Digest, specifically covering portions of Books 24 through 38.
Second, the term appears frequently in histories of the glossator school and in scholarship on the mos italicus tradition. Researchers tracing the influence of Roman law on common law or civil law systems will encounter it in secondary literature discussing Irnerius, Accursius, and their successors. It is rarely a term of operative legal significance in primary sources after the recovery of the full Digest text; its use becomes a marker of a particular historical moment in legal transmission.
Third, the term can serve as a useful index for dating a source. A document that references the Infortiatum as a living pedagogical category is almost certainly medieval or early modern, predating the period when the full Pandects circulated freely in standardized printed editions.
Historical Dictionary Support
The historical dictionaries agree on the essential account. Black's (both editions), Rapalje & Lawrence, and Burrill all identify the Infortiatum as the second of three divisions of the Pandects and locate its origin in the Bologna glossator tradition. Burrill adds the most etymologically useful information, tracing the term to infortiare (to enlarge), which illuminates why the recovered middle portion received this name rather than a purely ordinal label.
None of the historical dictionaries give precise book-number boundaries for the Infortiatum within the Digest. Scholars of Roman law history generally identify it as covering roughly Digest Books 24.3 through 38, though the exact boundaries vary in the literature. Researchers relying solely on the dictionary entries will need to consult specialized works in the history of Roman law to pin down the content with precision.
Rapalje & Lawrence is the most compressed of the sources, offering only the phrase "middle part of the three parts of the Pandects of Justinian" before moving on to adjacent entries. Black's entries across both editions are nearly identical, suggesting the second edition carried forward the first without revision — a common pattern in early Black's that researchers should not mistake for independent corroboration.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Corpus Juris Civilis; Glossators and the Reception of Roman Law; Pandects (Digest of Justinian)