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SALIC LAW

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 69 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SALIC See also:

LAW , and OTHER FRANKISH See also:LAWS. The Salic Law is one of those See also:early See also:medieval Frankish laws which, with other early Germanic laws (see GERMANIC LAWS), are known collectively as leges barbarorum. It originated with the Salian See also:Franks, often simply called Salians, the See also:chief of that conglomeration of Germanic peoples known as Franks. The Salic Law has come down to us in numerous See also:MSS. and in See also:divers forms. The most See also:ancient See also:form, represented by Latin MS. No. 4404 in the Bibliotheque Nationale at See also:Paris, consists of 65 chapters. The second form has the same 65 chapters, but contains interpolated provisions which show See also:Christian See also:influence. The third See also:text consists of 99 chapters, and is divided into two See also:groups, ac-cording as the MSS. contain or omit the " Malberg glosses." I The I Some of the MSS. contain words in a See also:barbarian See also:tongue and often preceded by the word " malb." or " Inalberg." These are admitted to be Frankish words, and are known as the Malberg glosses. Opinions differ as to the true import of these glosses; some scholars hold that the Salic Law was originally written in the Frankish See also:vernacular, and that these words are remnants of the ancient text, while others regard them as legal formulae such as would be used either by a See also:plaintiff in introducing a suit, or by the See also:judge to denote the exact See also:composition to be pronounced. It is more probable, however, that these words served the Franks, who were ignorant of Latin, as clues to the See also:general sense of each See also:paragraph of the law.See also:fourth version, as emended by See also:Charlemagne, consists of 70 chapters with the Latinity corrected and without the glosses. Though he added some new provisions, Charlemagne respected the ancient ones, even those which had See also:long fallen into disuse.

The last version, published by B. J. See also:

Herold at See also:Basel in 1557 (Originum ac Germanicarum antiquitatum See also:libel) from a MS. now lost, is founded on the second recension, but contains additions of considerably later date. The law is a compilation, the various chapters were composed at different periods, and we do not possess the See also:original form of the compilation. Even the most ancient text, that in 65 chapters, contains passages which a comparison with the later texts shows to be interpolations. It is possible that See also:chapter i., De mannire, was taken from a Merovingian capitularyand afterwards placed at the beginning of the Salic Law. This granted, See also:internal See also:evidence would go to show that the first compilation See also:dates back to the See also:time of See also:Clovis, and doubtless to the last years of his reign, after his victory over the Visigoths (507–51 I). Many facts combine to preclude the See also:assignment of an earlier date to the compilation of the law. The Germanic tribes had no need to use the Latin See also:language until they had coalesced with the Gallo-See also:Roman See also:population. The See also:scale of judicial fines is given in the denarius (" which makes so many solidi "), and it is known that the monetary See also:system of the solidus did not appear until the Merovingian See also:period. Even in its earliest form the law contains no trace of paganism—a significant fact when we consider how closely law and See also:religion are related in their origins. As pointed out by H.

See also:

Brunner in his Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte (i. 438), the Salic Law contains imitations of the Visigothic laws of Euric (466–485). Finally, chapter xlvii. seems to indicate that the Frankish See also:power extended See also:south of the See also:Loire, since it speaks of men dwelling " trans Legerem " being summoned to the mallus (judicial See also:assembly) and being allowed eighty nights for their See also:journey. On the other See also:hand, it is impossible to See also:place the date of compilation later. The See also:Romans are clearly indicated in the law as subjects, but as not yet forming See also:part of the See also:army, which consists solely of the antrustions, i.e. Frankish warriors of the See also:king's bodyguard. As yet the law is not impregnated with the Christian spirit; this See also:absence of both Christian and See also:Pagan elements is due to the fact that many of the Franks were still heathens, although their king had been converted to See also:Christianity. Christian enactments were introduced gradually into the later versions. Finally, we find capitularies of the See also:kings immediately following Clovis being gradually incorporated in the text of the law—e.g. the Pactum See also:pro tenore pacis of See also:Childebert I. and See also:Clotaire I. (511-558), and the Edictum Chilperici (561–584), chapter iii. of which cites and emends the Salic Law. The law as originally compiled underwent modifications of varying importance before it took the form known to us in Latin MS. No.

4404, to which the See also:

edict of Childebert I. and Clotaire I. is already appended. The classes of MSS. distinguished above give evidence of further changes, the law being supplemented by other capitularies and sundry extravagantia, prologues and epilogues, which some historians have wrongly assumed to be parts of the See also:main text. Finally, Charlemagne, who took a keen See also:interest in the ancient documents, had the law emended, the operation consisting in eliminating the Malberg glosses, which were no longer intelligible, correcting the Latinity of the ancient text, omitting a certain number of interpolated chapters, and adding others which had obtained general See also:sanction. The Salic Law is a collection of ancient customs put into See also:writing by See also:order of the See also:prince. In the sense that they already existed and came ready-made to the prince's hand, it is legitimate to speak of these customs as a popular law, a Volksrecht; but it was the prince who gave them force of law, emended them, and rejected such of the ancient usages as appeared to him antiquated. The king, moreover, had the right to add provisions to the law; and we find capitularies of Charlemagne and See also:Louis the Pious in the form of additamenta to the Salic Law. From this it will be seen that the Salic Law is not a See also:political law; it is in no way concerned with the See also:succession to the See also:throne of See also:France, and it is absolutely false to suppose that it was the Salic Law that was invoked in 1316 and 1322 .to exclude the daughters of Louis X. and See also:Philip V. from the succession to the throne. The Salic Law is pre-eminently a penal See also:code, which shows the amount of the fines for various offences and crimes, and contains, besides, some See also:civil law enactments, such as the famous chapter on succession to private See also:property (de alode), which declares that daughters cannot inherit See also:land. The text is filled with valuable See also:information on the See also:state of the See also:family and property in the 6th See also:century, and it is astonishing to find See also:Montesquieu describing the Salic Law as the law of a See also:people ignorant of landed property. The code also contains abundant information on the organization of the tribunals (tribunal of the See also:hundred and tribunal of the king) and on See also:procedure. Like all the barbarian laws, the law of the Salian Franks was a See also:personal law; it applied only to the Salian Franks. As the Salians, however, were the victorious See also:race, the law acquired an authority in excess of the other barbarian laws, and in the additions made to the Ripuarian, Lombard, and other allied laws, the See also:Carolingians endeavoured to bring these laws into See also:harmony with the Salic Law.

Moreover, many persons, even of See also:

foreign race, declared themselves willing to live under the Salic Law. The principle of See also:personality, however, gradually gave way to that of territoriality; and in every See also:district, at least See also:north of the Loire, customs were formed in which were combined in varying proportions Roman law, ecclesiastical law and the various Germanic laws. So See also:late as the loth and r rth centuries we find certain texts invoking the Salic Law, but only in a vague and general way; and it would be rash to conclude from this that the Salic Law was still in force. Of the numerous See also:editions of the Salic Law only the See also:principal ones can be mentioned: J. M. See also:Pardessus, Loi salique (Paris, 1843), 8 texts; G. See also:Waitz, Das alte Recht der salischen Franken (1846), text of the first version; J. F. Behrend, Lex Salica (1873; 2nd ed., See also:Weimar, 1897) ; J. H. Hessels, Lex Salica: the Ten Texts with the Glosses, and the Lex Emendata, with notes on the Frankish words in the Lex Salica by H. See also:Kern (188o), the various texts shown in synoptic tables ; A.

Holder, Lex Salica (1879 seq.), reproductions of all the MSS. with all the abbreviations; H. See also:

Geffcken, Lex Salica (See also:Leipzig, r898), the text in 65 chapters, with commentary paragraph by paragraph, and appendix of additamenta; and the edition undertaken by See also:Mario Krammer for the Mon. Germ. hist. For further information see the See also:dissertations prefixed to the editions of Pardessus, Waitz and Hessels; Jungbohn See also:Clement, Forschungen fiber das Recht der salischen Franken (See also:Berlin, 1876) ; R. Sohm, Der See also:Process der Lex Salica (Weimar, 1867; See also:French trans. by M. Th6venin) and See also:Die frankische Reichsund Gerichtsverfassung (Weimar, 1876) ; J. J. Thonissen, L'Organisalion judiciaire, le See also:droit penal et la procedure de la loi salique (2nd ed., See also:Brussels and Paris, 1882); P. E. Fahlbeck, La Royaute et la droit royal francs (See also:Lund, 1883) ; Mario Krammer, " Kritische Untersuchungen zur Lex Salica ' in the See also:News Archie, See also:xxx. 263 seq.; H. Brunner, Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte (2nd ed., Leipzig, 1906), i.

427 seq. The Lex Ripuaria was the law of the Ripuarian Franks, who dwelt between the See also:

Meuse and the See also:Rhine, and whose centre was See also:Cologne. We have no ancient MSS. of the law of the Ripuarians; the 35 MSS. we possess, as well as those now lost which served as the basis of the old editions, do not go back beyond the time of Charlemagne (end of 8th century and gth century). In all these MSS. the text is identical, but it is a revised text—in other words, we have only a lex emend ata. On See also:analysis, the law of the Ripuarians, which contains 89 chapters, falls into three heterogeneous divisions. Chapters i.-xxxi. consist of a scale of compositions; but, although the fines are calculated, not on the unit of 15 solidi, as in the Salic Law, but on that of 18 solidi, it is clear that this part is already influenced by the Salic Law. Chapters xxxii.-lxiv. are taken directly from the Salic Law; the provisions follow the same arrangement; the unit of the compositions is 15 solidi; but capitularies are interpolated See also:relating to the affranchisement and See also:sale of immovable property. Chapters lxv.-lxxxix. consist of provisions of various kinds, some taken from lost capitularies and from the Salic Law, and others of unknown origin. The compilation apparently goes back to the reign of Dagobert I. (6zg-639), to a time when the power of the mayors of the See also:palace was still feeble, since we read of a See also:mayor being threatened with the See also:death See also:penalty for taking bribes in the course of his judicial duties. It is probable, however, that the first two parts are older than the third. Already in the Ripuarian Law the divergences from the old Germanic law are greater than in the Salic Law.

In the Ripuarian Law a certain importance attaches to written deeds; the See also:

clergy are protected by a higher See also:wergild—600 solidi for a See also:priest, and goo for a See also:bishop; on the other hand, more space is given to the cojuratores (sworn witnesses); and we See also:note the See also:appearance of the judicial See also:duel, which is not mentioned in the Salic Law. There is an edition of the text of the Ripuarian Law in Mon. Ger. hist. Leges (1883), v. 185 seq. by R. Sohm, who also brought out a See also:separate edition in 1885 for the use of See also:schools. For further information see the prefaces to Sohm's editions; See also:Ernst See also:Mayer, Zur Entstehung der Lex Ribuariorum (See also:Munich, 1886); See also:Julius Ficker, " Die Heimat der Lex Ribuaria " in the Mitteilungen See also:fur osterreichische Geschichtsforschung (supplt., vol. v.); II. Brunner Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte (2nd ed., Leipzig, 1906), i., 442. Lastly, we possess a judicial text in 48 paragraphs, which bears the See also:title of Notitia vel commemoratio de ilia See also:ewe (law), quae se ad Amorem habet. This was in use in the district along the Yssel formerly called Hamalant. The name Hamalant is unquestionably derived from the Frankish tribe of the Chamavi, and the document is often called Lex Francorum Chamavorum. This text, however, is not a law, but rather an abstract of the See also:special usages obtaining in those regions—what the Germans See also:call a Weistum.

It was compiled by the itinerant Frankish officials known as the missi Dominici, and the text undoubtedly goes back to the time of Charlemagne, perhaps to the years 802 and 803, when the activity of the missi was at its height. In certain chapters it is possible to discern the questions of the missi and the answers of the inhabitants. There is an edition of this text by R. Sohm in Mon. Germ. hist. Leges, v. 269, and another appended to the same writer's school edition of the Lex Ribuaria. For further information see E. T. Gaupp, Lex Francorum Chamavorum (See also:

Breslau, 1855; French trans. in vol. i. of the Revue historique de droll frangais et etranger) ; Fustel de Coulanges, Nouvelles Recherches sur quelques problemes d'histoire (Paris, 1891), pp. 399-414; H. Froidevaux, Recherches sur la lex dicta Francorum Chamavorum (Paris, 1891).

(C.

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