Encore à propos des Sirmondiennes… : arguments présentés à l’appui de la thèse de l’authenticité, en réponse à une mise en cause récente

The Collectio Sirmondiana, containing imperial laws contemporary with those listed in the Theodosian Code, yet transmitted by means of a different tradition, is definitely a source and a tool of comparison for anyone concerned with the methods and constraints of late antique legal codification. For almost four hundred years its authenticity has been the subject of a most complex historical debate, lately reopened by Élisabeth Magnou Nortier. Her work revives a polemical trend and takes up the convictions voiced by Godefroy, the Swiss scholar, about a possible medieval falsification of the Sirmondian collection. In his attempt to refute the contextual, paleographic and textual arguments which underlie Magnou-Nortier’s publication, the author of the present article aims to re-establish on more solid foundations the authenticity of the most valuable collectio. [Author]