Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/891

CIVIL LAW. 785 CIVIL LAW. translated into English (Moyle's Institufes, 2d ed. 1890). For tlie history of Roman law to Justinian, the best English work is by Muirhead, Bistorical Introduction to the Private Law of lioiuc (2d ed., Edinburgh, 180'.)). V. Roman and Teutonic Law in the Middle Ages. — The law books of Justinian remained in force in the Byzantine Empire until the end of the ninth century, when they were condensed into a single tJreek code, the Baxilica. This, in its turn, remained nominally in force until the capture of Constantinople, by the Turks, in 1453; but, in fact, briefer private compilations were more generally used. ()ne of these, the IJexa- hiblos, made in Thessalonica (Salonica) in 1345, had legal authority in Greece as late as the nine- teenth century. In the Teutonic kingdoms estab- lished on the ruins of the Western Roman Em- pire, the conquered Romans continued to live (at least in their relations with one another) by the Roman law: and in some cases official compila- tions of Roman law (antedating those of Jus- tinian) were made for their use. The most important of these was the Lex Romana Tisigo- thorum. compiled at Aire, in Gascony, tinder the authority of Alaric II. and published a.d. 506. and commonly known as the "Breviary of Alaric' (q.v.). It included Imperial constitutions, a condensation of the Institutes of Gains, and passages from Paul's Sentences. Until the eleventh century, it was the principal source from which Roman law was dra^vn in western Europe. Even earlier, in the reign of Euric 1 4GG-84 ) , the Visigoths had begun to reduce their own law to written form, and their exam- ple was followed by other Teutonic tribes. So came into existence the Leges Barbarorum (as they were termed afterwards), written in Latin, and exhibiting more or less Roman influence. The most important of these are: The Lex An- tigua of the Visigoths, the law of the Burgun- dians {Lex Gundohada) , and the law of the Salian Franks {Lex Salica), all dating from the close of the fifth century; the law of the Ripuarian Franks, dating from the close of the sixth century; and the law of the Longobards, compiled in the seventh century. In Spain Visi- gothic legislation developed, in the course of the seventh century, into an elaborate code, the Lex Visigothorum (later known as the 'Forum Judi- cum' or 'Fuero Juzgo'). It is a blend of Teutonic, Roman, and ecclesiastical law, .and it boimd Goths and Romans alike. In the eighth century this na- tional development was arrested by the Moorish Conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. In the Frankish Empire (which, in the course of the eighth century, came to include all Christian Europe, ciccept Great Britain and Ireland and the Byzantine Empire) the system of the 'per- sonal statute' prevailed : each German tribe lived by its own law, and the people representing the Roman element in Gaul, Burgundy, and Italy lived by Roman law. Here also, as in Spain, new law (in this case European law) was in process of creation by Imperial legislation (cajiitularies) and the decisions of the Imperial courts; but in the ninth century this development also was ar- rested by the disruption of the Empire. In the new nations in process of formation, the royal authority was too slight either to enforce the old Frankish laws or to develop new national law. With the gradual disappear- ance of racial distinctions, the leges bnrha- rorum became obsolete, and the 'personal stiitute' was supplanted by local law, largely customary in character. In southern France and in central and southern Italy, where the Roman element was strongest, the local laws were mainly Roman; in Germany and in north- ern France, they were mainly Teutonic; in north- em Italy and in Spain, Roman and Teutonic rules were more equally blended; but each local system, in the absence of anj- appellate jurisdic- tion, develoi)e(l independently. Across these local differences ran class distinctions; there were separate courts and different laws for the nobles, •he peasants, and the townsmen. In most of these courts judgments were rendered by men familiar with the customs of their locality or their class (scabini, (ichevins, Schiiffen) , but ■nithout other legal training. The most impor- tant body of written law produced in this period (except the canon law) was a twelfth-century Lombard code of feudal law (Libri Feudorum), which obtained great authority throughout Eu- rope. !Many city laws, and not a few territorial and local customs, were also put into written form, u.sually by private persons. Among the more important are the so-called EtabUssements de i^aint Louis (1272 or 1273), the Grand coutu- mier de Xorjuandie (1270-75), and the Mirror of the Saxons {Sachsenspiegel, about 1230). VI. Canon Law. — Tliroughout the iliddle Ages, there existed still another set of courts — viz. the ecclesiastic courts — applying a law which was not local, but European, and which bound all Christians. From the ordinary judge {judex ordiiiarius) , the bishop or his surrogate, appeals ran to Rome, and the interpretation of the canon law was kept uniform by the decisions of the Papal Curia. In the Pope and the General Council the Church possessed also effective legis- lative organs. Canon law profoundly affected the development of European law in many mat- ters ; in particular, it gave Europe a common law of marriage and of family relations and rational forms of judicial procedure. For the development of the ecclesiastical law as a whole, and for its codification, see Canon Law. VII. Reception of the Laic Books of Jus- tinian. — Till the eleventh century, the only texts of Roman law that were most used in Vestern Europe were the 'Breviary of Alaric' and similar scanty compilations. In the eleventh century, however, the law books of Justinian were studied and used in Lombardy, in southern France, and in Barcelona ; and there was a regular law school in which the laws of Justinian were taught at Pavia. Early in the twelfth century a more tliorough and minute study of these texts, par- ticularly of the Digest, was inaugurated at Bo- logna by Irnerius; the canon law was tauglit with equal thoroughness; and by the close of the century the University of Bologna had 10.000 students, largely foreigners from all parts of Europe. Before the end of the thirteenth cen- tury law schools were established in twelve other Italian cities. From Italy the system- atic study of the civil and canon laws spread through Europe. In Italy the text. of .Justinian was 'glossed' — i.e. furnished with a running mar- ginal commentary: and in the thirteenth cen- tury one Aocursius digested the glosses of his predecessors and produced what came to be rec- ognized as the standard gloss. The revival of the study of the law books of .Justinian was followed,