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 Greek code, the Basilica. 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. One of these, the Ilexa biblos, 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 Leaf Romana Visigo thorum, compiled at Aire, in Gascony, under the authority of Alarie II. and published A.D. 506. and commonly known as the 'Breviary of Alaric' f 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 drawn in western Europe. Even earlier, in the reign of Euric 1466-84), 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 Legcs Barbarorum (as they were termed afterwards), written in Latin. and exhibiting more or less Roman influence. The most important of these are: The Lest; An tigua of the Visigoths, the law of the Burgtin dians (Lex (,undobada), 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 l'isigothorum (later known as the 'Forum Judi rum' or 'Fuer° Juzgo'). It is a blend of Teutonic, Roman, and ecclesiastical law, and it hound 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. except Great Britain and Ireland and the Byzantine Empire) the system of the 'per SOMA I 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. lien! also, as in Spain. new law (in this European law) was in process of creation by Imperial legislation (rapitularies) and the decisions of the Imperial courts; hut 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 leqes bartm rorum became obsolete, and the 'personal statute' 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 1Zoman; in Germany and in north ern France, they were mainly Teutonic; in north ern Italy and in Spain, lioman and Teutonic rules were more equally blended; but each local system, in the absence of any appellate jurisdic tion, developed independently. Across these local differences ran class distinctions; there were separate courts and different laws for the nobles. the 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, c'chevins, Schaffcn ) but without 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 ]any (Libri Ecialoruni l , which obtained great authority throughout Eu rope. Many city laws, and not a few territorial and local customs, were also put into written form, usually by private persons. Among the more important are the so-called Etablissements de Saint Louis (1272 or 1273), the Grand coutu micr de Normandie (1270-75), and the Mirror of the Saxons (Saehsenspiegel, about 1230).
VI. Canon Law.—Throughout the Middle 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 ordinaries), 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 Law Books of Jus tinian.—Till the eleventh century, the only texts of Roman law that were most used in Western 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 thorough and minute study of these texts, par ticularly of the Digest, was inaugurated at Bo logna by Irnerius: the canon law was taught with equal 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 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; arid in the thirteenth cen tury one Aecursius dir!ested the glosses of his predecessors and produced what came to he rec ognized as the standard !doss. The revival of the study of the law books of Justinian was followed, in many parts of Europe, by the 'reception' of these books as authoritative law; where, as in Italy and southern France, Roman law of a sort was already in use. the substitution of fuller and better texts was a simple matter, and here the reception came early. In Germany and the Netherlands it came late; it was not completed until the beginning of the sixteenth century. The reception was facilitated, especially in Germany and Italy, by the theory of 'continuous empire,' which viewed the Roman emperors as legal prede cessors of the mediawal kings and princes. The reception, further. was in part the result, and in part the cause, of a gradual change in the organi zation of the courts, judges learned in the civil and canon laws taking the place of the seabini, or lay judges. The fundamental cause, however. of the reception of ancient Roman law was the inadequacy of mediaeval law. The revival of commerce, in the twelfth and following cen turies, and the social changes which ensued, necessitated a more highly developed law. The first result of the revival of commerce was the reception, throughout Europe, of the ancient law merchant, which had survived in the eastern Mediterranean region; but this law was ap plicable only to traders, and its reception did not solve the problems that were raised by the in ereasing, impeertance of personal property. Hence the subsequent reception eef the entire Ronlall private law. In those parts of Europe where economic conditions changed more slowly and local customs longer remained adequate—e.g. in Switzerland, in the Scandinavian kingdoms, and in Russia—the law books of Justinian were not received. These countries became civil-law coun tries later, partly through the influence of the universities, partly by borrowing or imitating French and German legislation. A second and negative cause of the reception was the inability of the mediaeval State to work out the new law that was required. In those countries in which central legislative power existed, or in which appeals were running to a supreme court, the law hooks of Justinian were not received. They were not received in England. nor in northern France, nor in Aragon: and in Castile the Roman law, as taught in the universities, was received only indirectly, in the form of an inde pendent Spanish code—viz. the law of the 'Seven Parts' (Las Siete Partides), prepared under the auspices of Alfonso X. (1252-S4). Even in those countries in which the Imperial Roman law was not received in gross, there was, never theless, more or less reception in detail; that is, special institutions and rules were bor rowed. Where the law books of Justinian were received, they were applied: (I) as modified by the canon law; (2) as interpreted by the Italian commentators; (3) as subsidiary law. not overriding, but only supplementing. local laws. The judges trained in the Roman law were, how ever, not friendly to local laws. They insisted that such laws must lee proved to lee in force: and where the local law was unwritten, it was not easy to eonvinee them of its validity.