Basilika

alt=|thumb|250x250px|Leo VI (right) and Basil I (left), from the 12th-century Madrid Skylitzes. The Basilika (, "the imperial [laws]") was a collection of laws completed in Constantinople by order of the Byzantine emperor Leo VI the Wise during the Macedonian dynasty. This was a continuation of the efforts of his father, Basil I, to simplify and adapt the Emperor Justinian I's Corpus Juris Civilis code of law issued between 529 and 534 which had become outdated. The term comes from the Greek adjective Basilika meaning "Imperial (laws or enactments)" and not from the Emperor Basil's name; both share a common etymology from the term Basileus.

==Background== Many changes had taken place within the Byzantine Empire in between Justinian and Leo VI's reign, chiefly the change in language from Latin to Greek. During Justinian's era, Latin was still in common use and Court documents were written in it. However, by the 9th century the use of Latin was obsolete, which in turn made the Corpus Juris Civilis code hard to use for Greek speakers, even in the capital of Constantinople. Furthermore, many of the laws within the Corpus Juris Civilis no longer pertained to most people, and new laws rose up to take their place. This necessitated an overhaul of the Byzantine legal system.