PANDECTS, PANDECTÆ, in jurisprudence, the digest, or collection, made by Justinian's order, of 534 decisions or judgments of the ancient lawyers, on so many questions occurring in the civil law; to which that emperor gave the force and authority of law, by the epistle prefixed to them.—The word is Greek, Πανδίκται, compounded of παν, "all," and δικαιον, ca-pio, "I take;" q. d. a compilation, or a book containing all things.—Though others, as Bartoli, will have it formed from παν, and δικαιον; as if these books contained the whole doctrine of the law.
The pandects consist of 50 books, and make the first part of the body of the civil law.
They were denoted by two ππ; but the copists taking those ππ for ff, the custom arose of quoting them by ff.
The Florentine pandects, are those printed from a famous ancient manuscript at Florence.
Papias extends the denomination of pandects, to the Old and New Testament.
There are also PANDECTA Medicina, "Pandects of Medicine;" a kind of dictionary of things relating to medicine, compiled by Mat. Sylvaticus of Mantua, who lived about the year 1297. Leunclavius has published Pandects of Turkey; and bishop Beveridge, Pandecta canonum.