See the Theodosian Code, l. i. tit. iv. with Godefroy's Commentary, tom. i. p. 30 - 35.) This decree might give occasion to Jesuitical disputes like those in the Lettres Provinciales, whether a Judge was obliged to follow the opinion of Papinian, or of a majority, against his judgment, against his conscience, etc. Yet a legislator might give that opinion, however false, the validity, not of truth, but of law.
Note by the Rev. H. H. Milman 1782 (Written), 1845 (Revised):
We possess (since 1824) some interesting information
as to the framing of the Theodosian Code, and its
ratification at Rome, in the year 438. M. Closius, now
professor at Dorpat in Russia, and M. Peyron, member of the
Academy of Turin, have discovered, the one at Milan, the
other at Turin, a great part of the five first books of the
Code which were wanting, and besides this, the reports
(gesta) of the sitting of the senate at Rome, in which the
Code was published, in the year after the marriage of
Valentinian III. Among these pieces are the constitutions
which nominate commissioners for the formation of the Code;
and though there are many points of considerable obscurity
in these documents, they communicate many facts relative to
this legislation.
— From Warnkonig, Histoire du Droit Romain , p. 169 - Wenck has published this work, Codicis Theodosiani libri priores. Leipzig, 1825.