Salic Law

Salic Law, the code of the Salian Franks who conquered Gaul in the 5th century and the most important, although not the oldest, of all Teutonic laws (leges barbarorum). The code was issued late (c. 507–511) in the reign of Clovis, the founder of Merovingian power in western Europe. It was twice reissued under the descendants of Clovis, and under the Carolingians (Charlemagne and his successors) it was repeatedly altered and systematized and was translated into Old High German.

The Salic Law is primarily a penal and procedural code, containing a long list of fines (compositio) for various offenses and crimes. It also includes, however, some civil-law enactments, among these a chapter that declares that daughters cannot inherit land. Although this section was not invoked in the exclusion of the daughters of Louis X, Philip V, and Charles IV from the throne, it took on critical importance under the later Valois (16th century), when it was incorrectly cited as authority for the existing assumption that women should not succeed to the crown.

In its original form the code is structurally of the pre-Christian era, the only one of the kind that exists. Other Germanic laws, such as those of the Visigoths and Burgundians, may be earlier in date but show appreciable Christian influence. Despite the fact that it was first written down in Latin (after a long period of purely oral transmission), the Salic Law was very little influenced by Roman law. As a record of the Franks’ early laws and customs, the Salic Law affords valuable clues about the conditions of primitive Germanic life and society.