Nuove riflessioni sulla presenza dei libri singulares nella massa 'edittale'

This article is meant to provide an answer to the following question, concerning the composition of Justinian’s Digest: why none of Paul’s libri singulares were conferred to the ‘edictal’ commission? The point is considering if this “absence” is caused by the special nature of those libri, who could have then been substantially different from the Ad edictum text (and so, they couldn’t be seen as part of it, that went separated in late Antiquity). To achieve this goal, there are basically three obstacles to overcome: first, the division of Paul’s Ad edictum between two masses (‘edictal’ and ‘sabinian’); then, the depth of philological consciousness and critical judgment expressed by Justinian’s compilers in their work; lastly, the presence, among the books read by the ‘edictal’ commission, of some libri singulares by other jurists. Getting through these problems is the only way to acknowledge the possibility of a link between the typology of a book and its use by Tribonian.