Mkhitar Gosh, Law Code of

a collection of laws compiled in 1184 by Mkhitar Gosh. One of the primary sources for the law code was Armenian customary law; the code also included provisions from Byzantine law and church decrees. The law code consists of an introduction and two parts: church canons and secular laws. The work lacks strict organization; theoretical discussions merge with the compiler’s suggestions, and legal norms are combined with interpretations. The code was intended to defend the feudal system, but it includes a number of moral precepts concerning limitations on the arbitrary power of feudal lords. Although the law code was not an official work, it was applied both within Armenia and in Armenian communities outside the country.