, called also Wernerus, or Guarnerus, a celebrated German lawyer, was
, called also Wernerus, or Guarnerus, a celebrated German lawyer, was born at Bologna,
about the middle of the eleventh century. After studying
the law at Constantinople, he taught it at Ravenna, where a
dispute arising between him and his colleagues about the
word “al,
” he sought for the meaning of it in the Roman
law; and thence took a liking to it, applied to the study
of it, and at last taught it publicly at Bologna in 1128.
He had a great number of disciples, became the father of
the Glossators, and had the title of “Lucerna Juris.
” Thus
he was the restorer of the Roman law, which had been
destroyed by the invasion of the barbarians. He had great
credit in Italy with the princess Matilda; and, having engaged the emperor Lotharius to order, by an edict, that
Justinian’s law should resume its ancient authority at the
bar, and that the code and digest should be read in the
schools, he was the first who exercised that profession in
Italy: his method was to reconcile the “responsa jurisprudentum
” with the “leges,
” when they seemed to clash.