ABSTRACT
In De Magistratibus III. 11, John Lydus describes in some detail the intricate process by which legal documents had been drawn up in former times, and laments that such intricacies are no longer required. This chapter illustrates in a general way that Lydus' attitude to the administration of justice, will make evident the difficulty at staff level that Justinian (or his ministers) must have had in introducing even some minor but commonsense reforms to a deeply conservative administration. Lydus is intent on demonstrating how impressive a procedure had existed for drawing up legal documents, since it had involved a number of intricacies and had required the attention of a whole host of dignified experts. Lydus tries to evoke the impressiveness of the proceedings by other means as well. In particular there is the stress on Latin. Lydus unleashes his powers of invective upon the activities of John the Cappadocian, praetorian prefect from early 531 to 25th.
