10-15. The Salic Law of the Franks
If we desire to make ourselves acquainted with the manners and customs of the Franks, we must have recourse to the most ancient document which has come down from them — the Salic Law. The oldest redaction of this Law, as will be shewn in the next volume, probably dates only from the last years of Clovis (507-511), but in it are codified much more ancient usages. On the basis of this code we can conjecture the condition of the Franks in the time of Clodion, of Merovech, and of Childeric. The family is still a very closely united whole; there is solidarity among relatives even to a remote degree. If a murderer could not pay the fine to which he had been sentenced, he must bring before the mal (court) twelve comprobators who made affirmation that he could not pay it. That done, he returned to his dwelling, took up some earth from each of the four corners of his room, and cast it with the left hand over his shoulder towards his nearest relative; then, barefoot and clad only in his shirt, but bearing a spear in his hand, he leaped over the hedge which surrounded his dwelling.
Once this ceremony had been performed, it devolved upon his relative, to whom he had thereby ceded his house, to pay the fine in his place. He might appeal in this way to a series of relatives one after another; and if, ultimately, none of them was able to pay, he was brought before four successive mals, and if no one took pity on him and paid his debt, he was put to death. But if the family was thus a unit for the payment of fines, it had the compensating advantage of sharing the fine paid for the murder of one of its members. Since the solidarity of the family sometimes entailed dangerous consequences, it was permissible for an individual to break these family ties. The man who wished to do so presented himself at the mal before the centenanus and broke into four pieces, above his head, three wands of alder. He then threw the pieces into the four corners, declaring that he separated himself from his relatives and renounced all rights of succession.
The family included the slaves and liti or freedmen. Slaves were the chattels of their master; if they were wounded, maimed, or killed, the master received the compensation; on the other hand, if the slave had committed any crime the master was obliged to pay, unless he preferred to give him up to bear the punishment. The Franks recognised private property, and severe penalties were denounced against those who invaded the rights of ownership; there are penalties for stealing from another's garden, meadow, cornfield, or flax field, and for ploughing another's land. At a man's death all his property was divided among his sons; a daughter had no claim to any share of it. Later, she is simply excluded from Salic ground, that is from her father's house and the land that surrounds it.
We find also in the Salic Law some information about the organisation of the State. The royal power appears strong. Any man who refuses to appear before the royal tribunal is outlawed. All his goods are confiscated and anyone who chooses may slay him with impunity; no one, not even his wife, may give him food, under penalty of a very heavy fine. All those who are employed about the king's person are protected by a special sanction. Their wergeld is three times as high as that of other Franks of the same social status. Over each of the territorial divisions called pagi the king placed a representative of his authority known as the grafio, or, to give him his later title, the comes.
The grafio maintained order within his jurisdiction, levied such fines as were due to the king, executed the sentences of the courts, and seized the property of condemned persons who refused to pay their fines. The pagus was in turn subdivided into "hundreds" (centenae). Each hundred had its court of judgment known as the mal; the place where it met was known as the malberg. This tribunal was presided over by the centenarius or thunginus — these terms appear to us to be synonymous.
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