Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/12

8 seems to have been intended as a check upon the right of jrrivate revenge. If the offended party insisted upon personal vengeance, then it was to he subject to certain terms, and was to be in the presence of witnesses. The Ripuarian laws, it is supposed, were compiled in the 7th century. The laws of the Burgundians are of an earlier period, probably between the years 468 and 534, the latter being the date of 'the final conquest of the Burgundians by the successors of Clovis. The chief characteristic of those laws is that they apply to Romans and Burgundians alike, and that civil rights and procedure are more prominent than in the laws of the Franks, probably by reason of the great interfusion of Roman law. The capitularies of Charlemagne and several of his successors have been commonly classed among compilations of laws. They are, in truth, the acts of the government in all its functions, including instructions to magistrates, financial regulations, political, civil, and canonical legislation, judicial decisions, even moral precepts, and propositions or questions for consideration. Guizot has arranged the acts of Charlemagne into 1,150 articles. Of these the greater proportion belong to canonical legislation, including under that term the acts of councils and the ordinances of the emperor in relation to affairs of the church. The next most considerable subject is political legislation, relating to administrative offices, courts, and police, and is contained in 293 articles. Penal provisions are numerous, but differ little in character from the previous penal laws of the Ripuarians, Lombards, and other barbarian nations who had become subjects of Charlemagne. There is one exception, in the severity with which he punished the conquered Saxons. Legislation concerning private rights is comparatively inconsiderable. Among the capitularies are some additions to the ancient laws, as the Salic and Ripuarian, the laws of the Lombards, Bavarians, &c.; there are also extracts from these laws, which were probably intended for some particular purpose. It is said that a revision of the Salic law, and of the laws of the Lombards and others, was made by order of Charlemagne, but only fragments of such revision appear in the capitularies. In fact, the capitularies themselves are but fragmentary, many of them being imperfect, and others being reft- m-d to which are lost. The most complete edition of the capitularies was published by Baluze (Paris, 1677). The laws compiled by Alfred the Great in the 9th century have been celebrated as the supposed origin of the peculiarities of the English common law. Trial by jury is commonly referred to this monarch as it tit xt introduced by him. But this is certaint sustained by authentic evidence. It was .liliar principle in the usages of all the nanic nations that a freeman should be only by his peers. In the laws attributed to Alfred we find the same general characteristics as in those of the Franks and other Germanic nations, pecuniary compositions for every species of crime, proof by compurgators, and the like. A law was indeed enacted by Alfred, making wilful murder a capital offence, but it seems not to have been enforced. There is one provision in these laws which may have originated in the humanity of the sovereign, but more probably in the regard which the Anglo-Saxons had for a man's house as being sacred, which feeling has been transmitted to their descendants, and exists to this day. If a man who had committed an injury should keep within his own house, his adversary might besiege him for seven days without attacking him; but if within that time the besieged person should be willing to surrender himself and his arms, his adversary might detain him 30 days, but after that must restore him safe to his kindred, and be content with the compensation prescribed by law. Trial by ordeal and other superstitious methods appear to have been frequent among the Anglo-Saxons. Judicial combat, if in use at all, was seldom resorted to until the Normans substituted it in place of compurgation. Coming down to a more recent period, we find a peculiar law of custom developed under the feudal system, especially in France. In the southern part of that monarchy, which had been occupied by the Visigoths and Burgundians, the Roman municipal institutions, judicial forms, and rights of property, were to a considerable extent preserved. That part of the country was for that reason called pays du droit ecrit. Yet even here, in some districts, many peculiar customs (droits coutumiers) were established in the feudal anarchy. In other provinces, especially the northern, the Roman law was almost entirely lost, at least was no longer distinguishable, and a new system succeeded, of various character, according to the degree of independence maintained by the great feudal lords; and these provinces were designated as pays du droit coutumier. The laws of Normandy are the most important on account of their bearing on the English law of landed property. The customs of the county of Paris were next in importance, as they were regarded as precedents in other districts. Many of these local systems were collected in the fitablissements de St. Louis. In the reign of Charles VII., in 1453, it was decreed by the assembly of the states that all customary laws should be reduced to writing. This brought into distinct and recognized legal existence a vast number of systems, a collection of several hundred of which has been made by Bourdot de Richebourg (Goutumier general, Paris, 1724). This diversity, instead of being relieved by general legislation as the authority of the crown increased, was only made more perplexed by ordonnanccs not founded upon comprehensive principles, and therefore having no tendency to assimilate the heterogeneous elements before existing, Collections of these ordonnances were repeatedly made, some of