This is a new book from an eminent and well-respected scholar. A work of reference; an essay in the analysis of style; a contribution to the prosopography of the late Roman quaestorship; a reflection on the fall of the western and the survival of the eastern Roman empire: the book combines all four.;Using his innovative and controversial method of analysis, already successfully employed in his highly-acclaimed Emperors and Lawyers (2nd edn 1994, OUP), the author examines the laws of a crucial period of the late Roman empire (379-455 AD), a time when the West collapsed while the East survived. Wherever possible, he assigns each law to the likely imperial quaestor who drafted it. This approach yields a novel type of list of office holder (Fasti), in which each quaestor is associated with the laws he drafted. The author shows why the eastern Theodosian Code (429-438 AD), intended to restore the legal and administrative unity of the Roman empire, came too late to save the West.;The accompanying Palingenesia on an accompanying disk will enable scholars to read the texts chronologically and to judge the soundness of the arguments advanced.;This book will be welcomed as a significant advance in our understanding of a fascinating period of late antiquity.