German Law Studies -- Legal Library

Author: Li Xiuching
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-07-01
Features: This book is a comprehensive treatise on the Germanic law, which examines the process of codification of Germanic law and analyzes the customs, rules, and laws in its main areas, such as power attribution, social hierarchy, marriage and family, land, movable property, inheritance, unlawful acts, and dispute resolution. On this basis, it summarizes the characteristics and status of Germanic law. The author argues that the processes of legal codification in different Germanic kingdoms were not synchronized, and as a result of varying degrees of absorption of foreign factors such as Roman law, there were significant differences in their content. The author also contends that traditional views on subjects such as vassals, marches, hand for hand, wills, wergild, extraterritoriality, inquest judges, inquisitorial trials, and judicial duels, which are based on the legislation and related materials of a particular kingdom or period, are biased and have been corrected and clarified accordingly. In the end, the author proposes that although Germanic law did not develop into a mature legal system, it still holds an irreplaceable position in the history of world law. It contains certain elements of Germanic law in the legal systems of European regimes established after the disintegration of the Germanic kingdoms, as well as in the local laws, royal laws, and the legal cultures of major modern Western legal systems.