Germanic Law

Germanic law is undoubtedly one of the most important historical sources ofwestern law besides Roman law and Canon law. From the invasions of Germanic peopleand the fall of the Roman Empire to the disintegration of the Charlemagne Empire inninth century and the Norman conquest of Britain in eleventh century, in the Barbariankingdoms, these tribal laws were sometimes set down in writing: these were the legesbarbarian. They were the main source of Germanic law. The Visigothic kingdom was the first Barbarian kingdom in the territory of theRoman Empire. The law of the Visigoths had essential values and distinct characters. In itrare immemorial customs were to be founded. The Euric code and the Visigothic codewere the main two codes with the trail of Roman law. Meanwhile, the Romani remainedsubject to vulgar Roman law, which was the Alaric Breviary in the Visigothic kingdom. In the Burgundian kingdom, the Romani remained subject to vulgar Roman law theLex Romana Burgundionum, the Burgundians to law of their own tribe the LexBurgundionum. The conflict between Romani and Germanis were subject to the law ofGermanic law. The Lex Burgundionum was one of the greatest leges barbarian and didnot remain its force in Burgundians untill the fall of Burgundian kingdom. In addition,the Lex Burgundionum reflected the merge of Germanic law and Roman law. The Rothair's Edict was the first code of the Lombard kingdom. The distinctstructure and the enumerative articles were main characters of it. Moreover, neitherRoman law nor Cannon law had much impact on the Rothair's Edict. Another importantlaw of the Lombard kingdom should be mentioned was the Laws of Liutprand. Thegeneral value of the legislative history of the Lombard kingdom is the continuity of thelegislation, which value is best expressed in the growth of the legislations. From thehistorical point of view, it meets the demands of the variation of the society. The Frankish kingdom, the most powerful Germanic kingdom, promulgated somefamous codes; The best known is Lex Salica, the law of the Salian Franks, the oldestversion naming Pactus Legis Salicae of which dates back probably to the last years of the 1reign of Clovis. After that there were different versions, including the Lex SalicaKarolina. Another important code must be mentioned is the Lex Ribuaria, the law ofRibuarian Franks. It was influenced by Pactus Legis Salicae, meanwhile, it had its owncharacters. In addition, Charlemagne played a key role in the legislative history of theFrankish Empire. In Britain the Anglo-Saxon kings also promulgated an important series of 'statutes'(domes), which were mostly the collections of the edicts of the kings. In contrast to othercompilations these English ones showed a distinctive direction from the beginning. The original kings of Germanic kingdoms were military leaders actually. Thesuccession of the throne was a complex of the election in form and the hereditary in fact.In the later period of the Germanic kingdoms, the character was showed more and moreclearly. Meanwhile, the Pope began to intervene in the succession of the throne. The fightbetween the royalty and the magisterium did not stop from then on, so that the scope ofthe royalty was different in different times. The antrustiones of the kings became theconsultants and the officials of the Curia regis for their intimate relations with the kings,even the major domus took the dominate positions in the Curia regis. The Germanickingdoms were divided to some shires and hundreds. But they were not autonomousareas, where there are local leaders and moots with complex functions. With thestrengthening of power of the lords, the institutions of the Germanic kingdoms were inthe course of feudalization in the later period of the Empires. In the Germanic people, the status systems of the people were a complex problem.In general, people were divided to three classes: freemen,...