After the Germans had been for some time in contact with the Romans they began to be considerably influenced by the customs and ways of doing things which they found among the more civilized people. They tried to master the Latin language, though, on the whole, they succeeded only so well as to create the new "Romance" tongues which we know as French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian. They adopted the Roman religion, i.e., Christianity. And, among the most important things of all, they took up the Roman idea of having their law written out rather than in the uncertain shape of mere tradition. In this work of putting the old customary law in written form the way was led by the Salian branch of the Franks. Just when the Salic code was drawn up is not known, but the work was certainly done at some time during the reign of Clovis, probably about the year 496. The portions of this code which are given below will serve to show the general character of all the early Germanic systems of law—Visigothic, Lombard, Burgundian, and Frisian, as well as Frankish; for among them all there was much uniformity in principles, though considerable variation in matters of detail. Like the rest, the Salic law was fragmentary. The codes were not intended to embrace the entire law of the tribe, but simply to bring together in convenient form those portions which were most difficult to remember and which were most useful for ready reference. In the Salic code, for instance, we find a large amount of criminal law and of the law of procedure, but only a few touches of the law of property, or indeed of civil law of any sort. There is practically nothing in the way of public or administrative law. Many things are not mentioned which we should expect to find treated and, on the other hand, some things are there which we should not look for ordinarily in a code of law. The greater portion is taken up with an enumeration of penalties for various crimes and wrongful acts. These are often detailed so minutely as to be rather amusing from our modern point of view. Yet every one of the sixty-five chapters of the code has its significance and from the whole law can be gleaned an immense amount of information concerning the manner of life which prevailed in early Frankish Gaul. For the Merovingian period in general the Salic law is our most valuable documentary source of knowledge, just as for the same epoch the Ecclesiastical History of Gregory of Tours is our most important narrative source.
Source—Text in Heinrich Geffcken, Lex Salica ["The Salic Law">[, Leipzig, 1898; also Heinrich Gottfried Gengler, Germanische Rechtsdenkmäler ["Monuments of German Law">[, Erlangen, 1875, pp. 267-303. Adapted from translation in Ernest F. Henderson, Select Historical Documents of the Middle Ages (London, 1896), pp. 176-189.
I.
1. If any one be summoned before the mallus[59] by the king's law, and do not come, he shall be sentenced to 600 denarii, which make 15 solidi.[60]
2. But he who summons another, and does not come himself, if a lawful impediment have not delayed him, shall be Summonses to the meetings of the local courts sentenced to 15 solidi, to be paid to him whom he summoned.
3. And he who summons another shall go with witnesses to the home of that man, and, if he be not at home, shall enjoin the wife, or any one of the family, to make known to him that he has been summoned to court.
4. But if he be occupied in the king's service he cannot summon him.
5. And if he shall be inside the hundred attending to his own affairs, he can summon him in the manner just explained.
XI.
1. If any freeman steal, outside of a house, something worth 2 denarii, he shall be sentenced to 600 denarii, which make 15 solidi.