Note 46 — II THE EXTENSION OF ROMAN AND ENGLISH LAW THROUGHOUT THE WORLD

This is carefully worked out both as to Syria and to Egypt by Dr. Mitteis, op. cit. He thinks (pp. 30-33) that the law of the Syrian book, where it departs from pure Roman law as we find it in the Corpus Iuris, is mainly of Greek origin, though with traces of Eastern custom. He also suggests that the opposition, undoubtedly strong, of the Eastern Monophysites to the Orthodox Emperors at Constantinople may have contributed to make the Easterns cling the closer to their own customary law. The Syrian book belongs to the fifth century A.D., and is therefore earlier than Justinian (Bruns und Sachau, Syrisch-römisches Rechtsbuch aus dem fünften Jahrhundert).