When Justinian sought to marry Theodora, he could not: a Roman law from Constantine's time prevented anyone of senatorial rank from marrying actresses. In 524, Justin passed a new law, which decreed that reformed actresses could thereafter legally marry outside their rank if approved by the emperor. The same law stated that daughters of these actresses would also be free to marry a man of any rank, which would have allowed her illegitimate daughter (whose name has been lost) to marry one of the previous emperor Anastasius' relatives. Soon thereafter, Justinian married Theodora.