collection of passages from the writings of Roman jurists, arranged in 50 books and subdivided into titles according to the subject matter. In AD 530 the Roman emperor Justinian entrusted its compilation to the jurist Tribonian with instructions to appoint a commission to help him. The Pandects were published in AD 533 and given statutory force (see also Justinian, Code of), which they retained into the Middle Ages in the Byzantine Empire. Early in the 19th century the term Pandectists was applied to the historical school of Roman-law scholars in Germany who resumed the scientific study of the Pandects. The leader of the school was Friedrich Karl von Savigny.