The present work is devoted to detailed evaluation of the extant manuscript authority of the Laws as well as to clarification of this work's textual transmission. The mutual relationships of the known manuscripts are thoroughly investigated, assessing their value to the reconstitution of the text. At the same time, the focus is on the scribes and scholars who produced, emended and annotated these manuscripts.
In more detail, first and foremost, the research deals with the primary manuscripts from the IX century, i.e. Parisinus gr. 1807 (=A) and Vaticanus gr. 1 (=O). The main aims are to establish their relationship and consider evidence to their non-extant sources, clarifying the status of (in)dependence. These two codices are also discussed individually with an emphasis on the distinction of later correcting hands and that of the scribe himself. Moreover, it is deduced, to the extent possible, which corrections have been taken from a manuscript other than the exemplar, and which ones copied from the same exemplar.
Subsequently, the study includes interrelations and dependencies of all other (secondary) manuscripts belonging to the "A" and "O" families. Of especial interest are Marcianus gr. 188 containing abundant corrections by Georgius Gemistus Plethon, some of which go back to a lost ancient codex, and Marcianus gr. 187 with a large number of noteworthy marginal notes in the hand of Cardinal Bessarion.
Such important additional aspects of the transmission as the XV century Latin translations and the XVI century printed editions are also covered. Their texts are respectively investigated and compared to their most probable sources.
The study also foresees the indirect tradition, particularly direct quotations from the Laws found in ancient authors which at times offer readings superior to those of the primary witnesses.
This work thus represents an attempt to deepen and refresh the Platonic studies from the perspective of textual criticism and manuscript studies as well as to examine the text of the Laws in great detail. This is particularly relevant given that not all extant manuscripts of this work have been collated and that some earlier available collations are not always reliable or complete.