Page xiv:
"Roman law was territorial, varied, and applicable to a wide range of social intercourse, much of it wholly
outside the experience of the Germanic immigrants... Germanic law was personal, not territorial; it "belonged"
to each member of a people wherever he or she went. It tended to limit itself to a narrow range of social
relations, principally those which would be called torts - injuries - in a modern court."
Page xviii:
The Ostrogothic Kingdom fell because they were too trusting of their conquered Roman subjects.
The Visigothic Kingdom fell because it had grown too comfortable and isolated, collapsing under Arabic
invasion. Rather reminds one of the Reconquista happening in the USA today.
page 14:
The Italians chose to ally with the Lombards, despite the latter being Arians, due to high taxes imposed
on Italy by Constantinople.
page 20:
The Lombards were replaced from rule in Italy by the Franks. However, the Franks kept most of the laws for
quite a long time, until it was later replaced by classical Roman civil law.
page 33:
"The Lombard man might also enter into one or more unions outside of marriage and such unions, although
definitely inferior to marriage, were legally recognised inasmuch as the children of such unions enjoyed
a guaranteed (albeit subordinate) place in the father's inheritance. Such children born outside a legal
marriage were described as "natural" children to distinguish them from "illegitimate" children (the offspring of prohibited [illegal] unions who had no claim at all on the family inheritance)."
ROTHAIR'S EDICT
page 55:
For murder, the payment of the wergeld is actually higher priority than capital punishment.
page 56:
For refusal to join the army when called on to do so, a fine of 20 solidi is issued.
wegworin/wecwori:
road-blocking, or otherwise blocking one's path, is an offense in most Germanic laws.
Fortification of one's own property is completely permissible.
page 58:
"[Concerning the freeman who has been found at night in another man's courtyard]
If a freeman is found in someone else's courtyard at night and does not willingly give his hands to be bound,
he may be killed and no compensation sought by his relatives. But if he gives his hands to be bound, and
they have been bound, he still must pay eighty solidi for himself, because it is not consistent with reason
that a man should silently or secretly enter someone else's courtyard at night; if he has some useful purpose,
he should call out before he enters."
Many violent crimes are punishable only by fines. Imprisonment is not seen thus far. Even relatively minor
physical affronts are punishable, albeit only by fines, e.g. two solidi for slapping a slave or aldius in the
face (page 66). Affronts against slaves and aldii are not as harshly punished.
page 75:
Arson is punishable with a fine of three times the value of the building and all of its contents.
page 86:
a man who takes a woman who is unwilling to be his wife, 900 solidi is the fine - half to the king, half to the
woman's relatives. That's the heaviest fine so far.
page 91:
a fine of 1200 solidi for murdering a woman. Even bigger fine now.
On the same page, "[Concerning women who conspire in the death of their husbands] If a woman conspires in the death of her husband, acting either through herself or through a substitute, the husband has the right to do
with her what he wishes, and he may likewise do what he wishes with the woman's property. If the woman denies the charge, her relatives may clear her either by oath or through the camfio, that is, by duel."
page 92:
"[Concerning women who kill their husbands] The woman who kills her husband shall be killed. If there are no children, the man's relatives shall have his property.
[On the legal competence of women] "No free woman who lives according to the law of the Lombards within the jurisdiction of our realm is permitted to live under her own legal control, that is, to be legally competent, but she ought always to remain under the control of some man or of the king..."
page 93:
"[On marriage with another man's wife] ... if a freeman or slave takes another man's wife and associates her
with himself in marriage, then both shall be killed if both consented (to the union).
[Concerning the man who discovers his wife in adultery] ... He who finds another freeman or slave having
intercourse with his wife shall have the right to kill them both. And if he kills them, nothing shall be required of him.
[On adultery] ... If anyone accuses another of having had intercourse with his wife, he who is charged with the
crime shall clear himself either by oath or by combat. If it is proved against him, he shall lose his life."
page 98:
selling stolen property must be recompensed eightfold.
page 100:
trees are marked often as a means of indicating boundaries.
Forgery and counterfeitting are punished by hand amputation.
page 103:
Thefts of greater than 10 silequae must be repaid ninefold and eighty solidi in fines. If the payment cannot
be made, the perpetrator is sentenced to death.
page 104:
"[Concerning artciles found along the road] He who finds an article of gold or of clothing or anything else
along the road and raises it above his knees without making it known (that he had found it) or without taking it to the judge shall return it ninefold."
page 108:
"[Concerning anger (aistan)] ... He who enters the courtyard of another man in a state of rage, that is, with
hostile spirit, shall pay twenty solidi to him whose courtyard it is.
[On violation of someone else's courtyard] ... A woman is not able to commit breach of courtyard, which is
hoberos, for it is foolish to think that a woman, free or slave, could commit a forceful act with arms as if she were a man."
page 113:
[On taking weapons without consent] "If anyone on his own authority presumes to take another man's weapons and does some evil deed with them, no blame shall be imputed to him whose weapons they are but to him who
committed the evil with them."
page 118:
"[Concerning the mutilation of horses] He who borrows another man's horse and mutilates it or breaks its spirit
shall be liable to the punishment for theft, that is, he shall pay eightfold (plus the value of the animal itself) or nine times the value of the horse."
"waregang": foreigners or recent immigrants
THE LAWS OF KING LIUTPRAND
(Liutprand was Catholic, not Arian)
Pages 148-49:
Girls under the age of 12 cannot be married.
page 178:
"[Concerning thieves] ... each judge shall make a prison underground in his district. When a thief has been
found, he shall pay composition for his theft, and then the judge shall seize him and put him in prison for two
or three years, and afterwards shall set him free.
If the thief... does not have enough to pay the composition for the theft, the judge ought to hand him over to the man who suffered the theft, and that one may do with him as he pleases.
If afterwards the thief is taken again in theft... (the judge) shall shave (decalvit) and beat him for punishment... and shall put a brand on his forehead and face. If the thief does not correct himself... the judge shall sell him outside the province..."
There is some persecution of "sorcerers and witches" throughout the book.
page 192:
"[Concerning girls and the legal age at which they may marry]
It has been noted before that the legal age for girls to marry should be twelve years. We now decree that the
legal age for marrying ought not to be within the twelfth year but upon its completion. We say this because we
know that there have been many controversies over this matter and it appears to us that girls are not mature
before they have completed twelve years."
page 196:
the Lombard word for "feud" is "faida"
page 197:
"[Concerning the man who talks dishonourably with another man's wife]
He who converses shamefully with someone else's wife - that is, if he places his hands on her bosom or on some other shameful place and it is proved that the woman consented, he who commits such an evil deed shall pay his wergeld as composition to the woman's husband. If, however, the case is not proved but some man, suspecting another man of so treating his wife, accuses him of doing this, then he who accuses shall have the right to challenge another man to combat or put him to the oath, as he chooses. If the woman had consented to such an illicit deed, her husband has the right to take vengeance on her or to discipline her in vindication as he wishes; nevertheless, however, she may not be killed nor may any mutilation be inflicted on her body.
If perchance the man proved guilty is a freeman who does not have enough to pay the composition, then a public official shall hands him over to the woman's husband, and the husband may take vengeance on him in vindication, but he may not kill him or inflict any mutilation on his body..."
page 199:
"[On Romans who marry Lombard women]: If a Roman man marries a Lombard woman and acquires her mundium, and if after his death the widow marries another man without the consent of the heirs of her first husband, feud and the penalty for illegal intercourse shall not be required; for after she married a Roman man and acquired her mundium, she became a Roman and the children born of such a marriage shall be Roman and shall live according to the law of their Roman father. Therefore the man who marries her after the death of her first husband ought not to pay composition for illegal intercourse, just as he would not pay it for another Roman woman.
pages 204-205:
"[Concerning the woman, bathing in a river, whose clothes are stolen]: It has been made known to us that a
certain perverse man took all of a woman's clothes while she was bathing in the river; as a result the woman
was naked and everyone who walked or passed through that place considered her condition to be the result of her sinful nature. She could not, moreover, remain forever in the river and, blushing with shame, returned naked to her home. Therefore we decree that the man who presumes to do such an illicit act shall pay his wergeld as composition to that woman to whom he did this shameful thing. We say this because if the father or husband or near relatives of the woman had found him, they would have entered into a violent fray with him and he who was the stronger would have killed the other man. Therefore it is better that the culprit, living, should pay his wergeld as composition than a faida develop over a death and produce such deeds that the eventual composition be greater still."
THE LAWS OF KING RATCHIS
page 223:
Revealing state secrets, or, as they put it, "those who investigate and reveal the secrets of the king", face
capital punishment and confiscation of property.
THE LAWS OF KING AISTULF
page 228:
"[Concerning those men who can afford armour]: All men who can afford it should at least have a coat of mail. Lesser men should who can afford it should at least have a horse, shield, and lance. Men who do not have an animal to ride and cannot afford one should at least have a shield and quiver..."
page 229:
We have seen similar legislation before, but it appears that trade outside the Kingdom of the Lombards is
prohibitted.
And some Lombardic terms...
aistan = in rage
amundius = legally independent
anagrip = illegal sexual intercourse with a woman
arga = coward
camphio = dueller
cawarfida = tax, duty
faida = feud
ferquido = like, similar
mundwald = legal guardian
oberos = legal violation of a man's property
wegworin = blocking one's way