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GERMANIC LAWS, EARLY

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 776 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GERMANIC See also:

LAWS, See also:EARLY . Of those Germanic laws of the early See also:middle ages which are known as leges barbarorum, we here See also:deal with the See also:principal examples other than Frankish, viz. (1) Leges Wisigothorum, (2) Lex Burgundionum, (3) Pactus Alamannorum and Lex Alamannorum, (4) Lex Bajuvariorum, (5) Le:- Saxonum, (6) Lex Frisionum, (7) Lex Angliorum et Werinorum, hoc est, Thuringorum, and (8) Leges Langobardorum. All these laws may in See also:general be described as codes of See also:procedure and tariffs of compositions. They See also:present somewhat similar features with the Salic See also:law, but often differ from it in the date of compilation, the amount of fines, the number and nature of the crimes, the number, See also:rank, duties and titles of the See also:officers, &c. For the Salic law and other Frankish laws, see SA11e LAW, and for the See also:edict of See also:Theodoric I., which was applicable to the See also:Ostrogoths and See also:Romans, see See also:ROMAN LAW. For the whole See also:body of the Germanic laws see P. Canciani, Barbarorum leges antiquae (See also:Venice, 1781—1789) ; F. See also:Walter, .Corpus See also:juris germanici antiqui (See also:Berlin, 1824) ; Monumenta Germaniae historica, Leges. For further See also:information on the codes in general, see H. M. Zopfl, Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte (4th ed., See also:Heidelberg, 1871—1876) ; J.

E. O. Stobbe, Geschichte der deutschen Rechtsquellen (See also:

Brunswick, 186o-1864) ; See also:Paul See also:Viollet, Histoire du See also:droit See also:civil See also:francais (2nd ed., See also:Paris, 1893); H. See also:Brunner, Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte (2nd ed., See also:Leipzig, 1906). 1. Leges Wisigothorum.—Karl Zeumer's edition of these laws in the 4to See also:series of the Mon. Germ. Hist. throws new See also:light on all questions See also:relating to their date and See also:composition. It is now certain that the earliest written See also:code of the Visigoths See also:dates back to See also:King Euric (466-485). Besides his own constitutions, Euric included in this collection constitutions of his predecessors, Theodoric I. (419-451), Thorismund (451-453), andTheodoric II. (453-466), and he arranged the whole in a logical See also:order.

Of this code fragments of chapters cclxxvi. to cccxxxvi.1 have been discovered in a See also:

palimpsest MS. in the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris (Latin See also:coll., No. 12161), a fact which proves that the code ran over a large See also:area. Euric's code was used for all cases between Goths, and between them and Romans; in cases between Romans, Roman law was used. At the instance of Euric's son, See also:Alaric II., an examination was made of the Roman laws in use among Romans in his dominions, and the resulting compilation was approved in 506 at an See also:assembly at See also:Aire, in See also:Gascony, and is known as the See also:Breviary of Alaric, and sometimes as the See also:Liber Aniani, from the fact that the See also:authentic copies See also:bear the See also:signature of the referendarius Anian. Euric's code remained in force among the Visigoths of See also:Spain until the reign of See also:Leovigild (568-586), who made a new one, improving upon that of his predecessor. This See also:work is lost, and we have no See also:direct knowledge of any fragment of it. In the 3rd codification, however, many provisions have been taken from the 2nd, and these are designated by the word " See also:antique; by means of these " antiqua " we are enabled in a certain measure to reconstruct the work of Leovigild. After the reign of Leovigild the legislation of the Visigoths underwent a transformation. The new laws made by the See also:kings were declared to be applicable to all the subjects in the See also:kingdom, of whatever race—in other words, they became territorial; and this principle of territoriality was gradually extended to the See also:ancient code. Moreover, the See also:conversion of Reccared I. (586-601) to orthodoxy effaced the religious See also:differences among his subjects, and all subjects, qua Christians, had to submit to the canons of the See also:councils, which were made obligatory by the kings. After this See also:change had been accepted, Recceswinth (649-672) made a new code, which was applicable to Visigoths and Romans alike.

This code, known as the Liber judiciorum, is ' The lacunae in these fragments have been filled in by the aid of recognize the Frankish See also:

suzerainty. About the same See also:period, too, the See also:church of See also:Bavaria was organized by St See also:Boniface, and the See also:country divided into several bishoprics; and we find frequent references to these bishops (in the plural) in the law of the Bavarians. On the other See also:hand, we know that the law is anterior to the reign of See also:Duke Tassilo III. (749-788). The date of compilation must, therefore, be placed between 743 and 749. There is an edition of the Lex Bajuvariorum by J. Merkel in the Mon. Germ. hist., Leges, iii. 183, and another was undertaken by E. von See also:Schwind for the 4to series of the same collection. Cf. von Schwind's See also:article in the Neues Archiv, vol. xxxi. 5. Lex Saxonum.—Germany comprised two other duchies, See also:Saxony and Frisia, of each of which we possess a See also:text of law.

The Lex Saxonum has come down to us in two See also:

MSS. and two old See also:editions (those of B. J. See also:Herold and du Tillet), and the text has been edited by Karl von See also:Richthofen in the Mon. Germ. hist., Leges, v. The law contains ancient customary enactments of Saxony, and, in the See also:form in which it has reached us, is later than the See also:conquest of Saxony by See also:Charlemagne. It is preceded by two capitularies of Charlemagne for Saxony—the Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae (A. Boretius i. 68), which dates undoubtedly from 782, and is characterized by See also:great severity, See also:death being the See also:penalty for every offence against the See also:Christian See also:religion; and the Capitulare Saxonicum (A. Boretius i. 71), of the 28th of See also:October 797, in which Charlemagne shows less brutality and pronounces See also:simple compositions for misdeeds which formerly entailed death. The Lex Saxonum apparently dates from 803, since it contains provisions which are in the Capitulare legi Ribuariae additum of that See also:year. The law established the ancient customs, at the same See also:time eliminating anything that was contrary to the spirit of See also:Christianity; it proclaimed the See also:peace of the churches, whose possessions it guaranteed and whose right of See also:asylum it recognized.

6. Lex Frisionum.—This consists of a medley of documents of the most heterogeneous See also:

character. Some of its enactments are purely pagan—thus one See also:paragraph allows the See also:mother to kill her new-See also:born See also:child, and another prescribes the immolation to the gods of the defiler of their See also:temple; others are purely Christian, such as those which prohibit incestuous marriages and working on See also:Sunday. The law abounds in contradictions and repetitions, and the compositions are calculated in different moneys. From this it would appear that the documents were merely materials collected from various See also:sources and possibly with a view to the compilation of a homogeneous law. These materials were apparently brought together at the beginning of the 9th See also:century, at a time of intense legislative activity at the See also:court of Charlemagne. There are no MSS. of the document extant; our knowledge of it is based upon B. J. Herold's edition (Originum ac Germanicarum antiquitatum libri, See also:Basel, 1557), which has been reproduced by Karl von Richthofen in the Mon. Germ. hist., Leges, 631. 7. Lex Angliorum et Werinorum, hoc est, Thuringorum.—In early times there dwelt in Thuringia, See also:south of the See also:river Unstrut, the See also:Angli, who gave their name to the pagus Engili, and to the See also:east, between the See also:Saale and the See also:Elster, the Warni (Werini, or Varini), whose name is seen in Werenofeld.

In the 9th century, however, this region (then called Werenofeld) was occupied by the Sorabi, and the Warni and Angli either coalesced with the Thuringi or sought an asylum in the See also:

north of See also:Germany. A collection of laws has come down to us bearing the name of these two peoples, the Lex Angliorum et Werinorum, hoc est, Thuringorum. This text is a collection of See also:local customs arranged in the same order as the law of the Ripuarians. Parts of it are based on the Capitulare legi Ribuariae additum of 803, and it seems to have been See also:drawn up in the same conditions and circumstances as the law of the See also:Saxons. There is an edition of this code by Karl von Richthofen in the Mon. Germ. hist., Leges, v. 103. The old See also:opinion that the law originated in south See also:Holland is entirely without See also:foundation. 8. Leges Langobardorum.—We possess a See also:fair amount of information on the origin of the last See also:barbarian code, the laws of the See also:Lombards. The first See also:part, consisting of 388 chapters, is known as the Edictus Langobardorum, and was promulgated by King Rothar at a See also:diet held at See also:Pavia on the 22nd of See also:November 643. This work, composed at one time and arranged on asystematic See also:plan, is very remarkable.

The compilers knew Roman law, but See also:

drew upon it only for their method of presentation and for their terminology; and the document presents Germanic law in its purity. Rothar's edict was augmented by his successors: Grimoald (668) added nine chapters; Liutprand (713-735), fifteen volumes, containing a great number of ecclesiastical enactments; Ratchis (746), eight chapters; and Aistulf (755), thirteen chapters. After the See also:union of the Lombards to the Frankish kingdom, the capitularies made for the entire kingdom were applicable to See also:Italy. There were also See also:special capitularies for Italy, called Capitula Italica, some of which were appended to the edict of Rothar. At an early date compilations were formed in Italy for the use of legal practitioners and jurists. See also:Eberhard, duke and See also:margrave of Rhaetia and See also:Friuli, arranged the contents of the edict with its successive additamenta into a See also:Concordia de singulis causis (829-832). In the loth century a collection was made of the capitularies in use in Italy, and this was known as the Capitulare Langobardorum. Then appeared, under the See also:influence of the school of law at Pavia, the Liber legis Langobardorum, also called Liber Papiensis (beginning of rrth century), and the Lombarda (end of xlth century) in two forms—that given in a See also:Monte Cassino MS. and known as the Lombarda Casinensis, and the Lombarda Vulgata. There are editions of the Edictus, the Concordia, and the Liber Papiensis by F. Bluhme and A. Boretius in the Mon. Germ. hist., Leges, iv.

Bluhme also gives the rubrics of the Lombardae, which were published by F. Lindenberg in his Codex legum antiquarum in 1613. For further information on the laws of the Lombards see J. Merkel, Geschichte See also:

des Langobardenrechts (185o); A. Boretius, See also:Die Kapitularien See also:im Langobardenreich (1864); and C. Kier, Edictus Rotari (See also:Copenhagen, 1898). Cf. R. Dareste in the Nouvelle Revue historique de droit francais el etranger (1900, p. 143). (C.

End of Article: GERMANIC LAWS, EARLY

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