Why did Justinian I want to reform the law of the Byzantine Empire?

Question

anonymous · Answer

The short answer is that he wanted to clean the laws up. 

By the time he became emperor, the Byzantine Empire inherited a ton of laws from Rome and it was a spaghetti mess. So he ordered that a cleaned up collection of the laws should be created so that every citizen could understand what the laws were and expect the same justice wherever they were in the empire.

praetorian.10 · Answer

the long answer is that up until that point, no one had really tried to reorganise and compile all of the laws inherited from the Roman Empire whose bulk made it difficult for the common person to understand. It's a lot like cleaning up a desk that keeps getting piled up with stuff - a lot accumulates over time to the point where you have to do something for anyone to find anything there. That was what Justinian faced and wanted to clean up.

The problem went beyond simple refinement or deleting ordinances. By reorganising it into a clear and concise set of laws, he could provide a uniform code of justice throughout the Byzantine Empire.