Legal Studies and Works of János Baranyai Decsi

In Hungary from the 16th century on there was a tendency to make a “harmonization” of the Hungarian customary law with the Roman Legal Codex. Baranyai Decsi, besides other activities, made a book on Romanisation of the Hungarian Law. The book, Syntagma institvtionvm ivris imperialis ac Vngarici… (1593) was using both the Tripartitum by Werbőczy (a legal compendium for Hungary), and the manuscript for its later variant: Quadripartitum (originally by 1552). In the autumn of 1593 Baranyai Decsi became the rector of the college at Székelyvásárhely (Transylvania). From then on, he ceased to do legal work. His book Syntagma is an interesting milestone of the reception efforts in Hungary