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73-549: The Lex Burgundionum code was compiled by King Gundobad (474-516). Some additamenta were subsequently introduced, either by Gundobad himself or by his son Sigismund . This law bears the title of Liber Constitutionum , indicating that it emanated from the king; it is also known as the Lex Gundobada or Lex Gombata . It was used for cases between Burgundians, and was also applicable to cases between Burgundians and Romans. For cases between Romans, however, Gundobad compiled

146-473: A chief and mekgwa as norms that become customary law through traditional usage. Importantly, however, they noted that the Tswana seldom attempt to classify the vast array of existing norms into categories and they thus termed this the 'undifferentiated nature of the normative repertoire'. Moreover, they observe the co-existence of overtly incompatible norms that may breed conflict, either due to circumstances in

219-783: A community. Some examples include Bracton 's De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliae for England, the Coutume de Paris for the city of Paris, the Sachsenspiegel for northern Germany, and the many fueros of Spain. In international law , customary law refers to the Law of Nations or the legal norms that have developed through the customary exchanges between states over time, whether based on diplomacy or aggression. Essentially, legal obligations are believed to arise between states to carry out their affairs consistently with past accepted conduct. These customs can also change based on

292-653: A constitutional foundation and for this reason has increasing influence. In the Scandinavian countries customary law continues to exist and has great influence. Customary law is also used in some developing countries , usually used alongside common or civil law. For example, in Ethiopia , despite the adoption of legal codes based on civil law in the 1950s according to Dolores Donovan and Getachew Assefa there are more than 60 systems of customary law currently in force, "some of them operating quite independently of

365-454: A custom to obtain the force of law. In the English common law , "long usage" must be established. It is a broad principle of property law that, if something has gone on for a long time without objection, whether it be using a right of way or occupying land to which one has no title, the law will eventually recognise the fact and give the person doing it the legal right to continue. It

438-454: A decree to revitalize the aqsaqal courts of village elders. The courts would have jurisdiction over property, torts and family law. The aqsaqal courts were eventually included under Article 92 of the Kyrgyz constitution. As of 2006, there were approximately 1,000 aqsaqal courts throughout Kyrgyzstan , including in the capital of Bishkek . Akaev linked the development of these courts to

511-605: A great religious tolerance , and may be the reason Gregory of Tours later thought he had secretly converted to Nicene Christianity . Cassiodorus' Variae includes a group of letters which discuss obtaining and sending a time piece to Gundobad as a diplomatic present. Customary law A legal custom is the established pattern of behavior within a particular social setting. A claim can be carried out in defense of "what has always been done and accepted by law". Customary law (also, consuetudinary or unofficial law ) exists where: Most customary laws deal with standards of

584-403: A group of houseboats on a mooring that has been in continuous use for the last 25 years with a mixture of owner occupiers and rented houseboats, may clearly continue to be used by houseboats, where the owners live in the same town or city. Both the purpose of the moorings and the class of persons benefited by the custom must have been clear and consistent. In Canada, customary aboriginal law has

657-632: A major change in Germanic culture as reflecting the emergence of the king as supreme judge and lawmaker. The Burgundians already had traditions and laws for arbitrating disputes among its people, but Romans brought with them organizational structure for a more centralized government. A great number of laws deal specifically with Germanic-style monetary retribution for intentional physical harm on one another. Punitive fines, rather than further physical injury or capital punishment, were used to regulate physical injury to prevent blood feud between two members of

730-462: A particular situation or inherently due to their incongruous content. This lack of rule classification and failure to eradicate internal inconsistencies between potentially conflicting norms allows for much flexibility in dispute settlement and is also viewed as a 'strategic resource' for disputants who seek to advance their own success in a case. The latter incongruities (especially inconsistencies of norm content) are typically solved by elevating one of

803-613: A policy of divide and rule , the barbarian allies being known as foederati . Sometimes these groups were allowed to live within the Empire. Barbarians could also be settled within the Empire as dediticii or laeti . The Romans could henceforth rely on these groups for military support or even as legionary recruits. One such group were the Burgundians, whom the Roman Emperor Honorius in 406 had invited to join

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876-655: A significant degree everywhere in Somalia and in the Somali communities in the Ogaden . Economist Peter Leeson attributes the increase in economic activity since the fall of the Siad Barre administration to the security in life, liberty and property provided by Xeer in large parts of Somalia . The Dutch attorney Michael van Notten also draws upon his experience as a legal expert in his comprehensive study on Xeer, The Law of

949-498: A stone round her neck and Chilperic's two daughters driven into exile. The older daughter, Chroma, became a nun. The other, Clotilde , had been seen by envoys of Clovis I , King of the Franks , who told their master of her beauty and intelligence. Clovis then asked Gundobad for Clotilde's hand in marriage. Gundobad was said to have been afraid to deny him. However, a letter written by Avitus , bishop of Vienne , consoling Gundobad on

1022-476: A tribal kinship. Along with money payments in compensation for physical injuries, the Burgundian Code also incorporates the wergeld , another Germanic institution. Drew defines wergelds as "the sum at which a man was valued and by the payment of which his death could be compensated". The wergeld of the upper class of freemen was worth a payment of 300 solidi, the underclass freeman worth 200 solidi, and

1095-438: A widow was entitled to a life interest in a third of her husband's landed property: this may have been the prototype of the analogous institution of dower in early English law. If a man betrothed a young woman and her parents later refused, they were liable to return four-fold the bride-price . But if she refused of her own accord, or if the wedding was not celebrated within two years, she could be re-engaged without penalty. If

1168-459: Is Gundobad's role concerning the Battle of Vouillé . He was one of several rulers to whom king Theoderic sent letters urging peace, and asking for mediation between Alaric II and Clovis. Despite Theoderic's best efforts, the two kings met at Vouillé, and Alaric was slain; according to Isidore of Seville , Gundobad supported Clovis in this battle. Isidore also provides a hint that Gundobad exploited

1241-402: Is a recognized source of law within jurisdictions of the civil law tradition, where it may be subordinate to both statutes and regulations . In addressing custom as a source of law within the civil law tradition, John Henry Merryman notes that, though the attention it is given in scholarly works is great, its importance is "slight and decreasing". On the other hand, in many countries around

1314-438: Is defined by legal precedent as 12 years (or 20 years for Crown land) for the same purpose by people using them for that purpose. To give two examples: a custom of mooring which might have been established in past times for over two hundred years by the fishing fleet of local inhabitants of a coastal community will not simply transfer so as to benefit present day recreational boat owners who may hail from much further afield. Whereas

1387-429: Is known about the culture and way of life of the Burgundians beyond what can be inferred from their legal code. Katherine Fischer Drew claims that it is the most influential of all barbarian law codes because of its survival, even after Frankish conquest, until the ninth century. The Romans consistently allied themselves with certain barbarian groups outside the Empire, playing them out against rival barbarian tribes as

1460-418: Is known in case law as "customary rights". Something which has been practised since time immemorial by reference to a particular locality may acquire the legal status of a custom, which is a form of local law. The legal criteria defining a custom are precise. The most common claim in recent times, is for customary rights to moor a vessel. The mooring must have been in continuous use for "time immemorial" which

1533-444: Is not often done; and, if the chief proclaims the legislation against the will of the public assembly, the legislation will become melao, however, it is unlikely that it will be executed because its effectiveness depends on the chief's legitimacy and the norm's consistency with the practices (and changes in social relations) and will of the people under that chief. Regarding the invocation of norms in disputes, Comaroff and Roberts used

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1606-404: Is rule bound and behaviour that is not—i.e., which behaviour is motivated by adherence to law (or at least done in recognition of the law) and is merely a response to other factors. Hund sees this as problematic because it makes quantifying the law almost impossible, since behaviour is obviously inconsistent. Hund argues that this is a misconception based on a failure to acknowledge the importance of

1679-403: Is seen as fundamental to the Tswana. Comaroff and Roberts describe how outcomes of specific cases have the ability to change the normative repertoire, as the repertoire of norms is seen to be both in a state of formation and transformation at all times. These changes are justified on the grounds that they are merely giving recognition to de facto observations of transformation [219]. Furthermore,

1752-458: Is seen in John Hund's critique of Comaroff and Roberts' theory, and preference for the contributions of H. L. A. Hart . Hund argues that Hart's The Concept of Law solves the conceptual problem with which scholars who have attempted to articulate how customary law principles may be identified, defined, and how they operate in regulating social behavior and resolving disputes. Customary law

1825-452: Is the set of customs, practices and beliefs that are accepted as obligatory rules of conduct by a community. Comaroff and Roberts' famous work, "Rules and Processes", attempted to detail the body of norms that constitute Tswana law in a way that was less legalistic (or rule-oriented) than had Isaac Schapera. They defined "mekgwa le melao ya Setswana" in terms of Casalis and Ellenberger's definition: melao therefore being rules pronounced by

1898-466: The Lex Burgundionum , Gundobad is stated to have published this code of law on 29 March of the second year of his reign (474 or 475). However, there are a number of inconsistencies in this ascription, and L. R. deSalis proposed a restored version of this passage which does not include a date—which would better fit the reign of his son, Sigismund. Although she accepts the strong likelihood that

1971-469: The Lex Burgundionum as we have it was the product of Sigismund's reign, Katherine Fisher Drew still argues that a core of this law code is the product of Gundobad or his chancellery. The letters of bishop Avitus and Cassiodorus provide glimpses of Gundobad's intellectual side. Avitus, a Nicene bishop, answers questions posed by an Arian Christian about religion in several letters, showing

2044-714: The Lex Romana Burgundionum , called sometimes, through a misreading of the manuscript, the Liber Papiani , or simply Papianus . The Burgundian kingdom is one of the early Germanic kingdoms that existed within the Roman Empire. In the late fifth and early sixth centuries, the Burgundian kings Gundobad and Sigismund compiled and codified laws to govern the members of their Barbarian tribe, as well as Romans living amongst them. Those laws governing

2117-691: The Malay regions, Bangka and Belitung , Kalimantan , Minahasa , Gorontalo , Toraja , South Sulawesi , Ternate , the Molluccas , Papua , Timor , Bali and Lombok , Central and East Java including the island of Madura , Sunda , and the Javanese monarchies, including the Yogyakarta Sultanate , Surakarta Sunanate , and the Pakualaman and Mangkunegaran princely states. In

2190-404: The internal element . In his view, by using the criteria described above, there is not this problem in deciphering what constitutes "law" in a particular community. According to Hund, the second form of rule scepticism says that, though a community may have rules, those rules are not arrived at 'deductively' , i.e. they are not created through legal/moral reasoning only but are instead driven by

2263-423: The Burgundians exercised "tribe-sovereignty" rather than complete territorial sovereignty. Gundioc's son, Gundobad (r. 474-516), began commission for his kingdom's legal codification in 483, which his son and successor, Sigismund (r. 516-532) completed. The laws deal mostly with inheritance and monetary compensation for physical injury. The earlier work, antiquae , and the later additions, novellae , together make

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2336-556: The Burgundians seized the opportunity to invade northwestern Italy. They devastated Liguria , and carried away an unknown number of victims into captivity, if not slavery. Once Theodoric had killed Odoacer and was securely in control of Italy, he sent bishop Epiphanius of Pavia on a mission to ransom as many of these captives as possible. Accompanied by Bishop Victor of Turin, they crossed the Alps in March. Shanzer and Wood believe Epiphanius

2409-618: The Burgundians themselves are called collectively the Lex Burgundionum , while the laws governing the Romans are known collectively as the Lex Romana Burgundionum . Both are extant. The laws codified in the Burgundian Code reflect the earliest fusion of German tribal culture with the Roman system of government. It promoted and helped maintain harmonious relations between such widely different people who had been previous enemies. More study has been given to other Germanic tribes of this time and little

2482-453: The Burgundians." Together they crushed Gundobad's force. Gundobad fled but King Clovis pursued him to Avignon . Gundobad feared the worst with Clovis's army at the gates. But Aridius went from Gundobad to Clovis and convinced him to spare Gundobad in return for a yearly tribute. The chronicler Marius of Avenches dates this conflict to 500. Gundobad later broke his promise of tribute as he regained his power and besieged Godegisel, trapped in

2555-443: The Empire and received the nominal protection of Rome for their agreement to defend their territories from other outsiders. This contractual relationship between the guests, Burgundians, and hosts, Romans, supposedly provided legal and social equality. However, Drew argues that the property rights and social status of the guests may have given them disproportionate leverage over their hosts. More recently, Henry Sumner Maine argues that

2628-550: The Roman Empire as foederati with a capital at Worms . The Burgundians were soon defeated by the Huns, but once again given land near Lake Geneva for Gundioc (r. 443-474) to establish a second federate kingdom within the Roman Empire in 443. This alliance was a contractual agreement between the two peoples. Gundioc's people were given one-third of Roman slaves and two-thirds of the land within Roman territory. The Burgundians were allowed to establish an independent federate kingdom within

2701-737: The Somalis: A Stable Foundation for Economic Development in the Horn of Africa (2005). In India many customs are accepted by law. For example, Hindu marriage ceremonies are recognized by the Hindu Marriage Act . In Indonesia, customary adat laws of the country's various indigenous ethnicities are recognized, and customary dispute resolution is recognized in Papua . Indonesian adat law are mainly divided into 19 circles, namely Aceh , Gayo , Alas , and Batak , Minangkabau , South Sumatra ,

2774-805: The Visigothic defeat by plundering Narbonne . Delayed by the threat of the Byzantine navy , which had been hovering off the Italian shore around the time of the battle, the Ostrogothic army arrived to relieve the Burgundian siege of Arles . According to Herwig Wolfram, the Burgundians were "the real victims of the Ostrogothic counteroffensive" following the defeat of their cousins at Vouillé. "Not only had they lost all their conquered territories and hope of acquiring Arles and Avignon but all their territory as far as Orange had been devastated." Following

2847-582: The acceptance or rejection by states of particular acts. Some principles of customary law have achieved the force of peremptory norms , which cannot be violated or altered except by a norm of comparable strength. These norms are said to gain their strength from universal acceptance, such as the prohibitions against genocide and slavery . Customary international law can be distinguished from treaty law, which consists of explicit agreements between nations to assume obligations. However, many treaties are attempts to codify pre-existing customary law. Customary law

2920-456: The battle with Gundobad's third brother, Godegisel, raged long. Unaware of the other's actions, each called upon Clovis trying to persuade him to join forces against the other. Clovis sided with Godegisel, who had offered him his pleasure of tribute; Wood observes that Clovis' wife, Clotilde, whose father had been killed by Gundobad, "was not likely to encourage good relations between the Franks and

2993-408: The city of Vienne. As famine devoured Vienne, Godegisel expelled the common people from the city for fear of his own survival. An outraged expelled artisan seeking vengeance on Godegisel went to Gundobad, and with his help he navigated the aqueduct and broke into the city. Gundobad murdered Godegisel in 501 in an Arian church along with the bishop. The next event about which information has survived

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3066-516: The community that have been long-established in a given locale. However, the term can also apply to areas of international law where certain standards have been nearly universal in their acceptance as correct bases of action – for example, laws against piracy or slavery (see hostis humani generis ). In many, though not all instances, customary laws will have supportive court rulings and case law that have evolved over time to give additional weight to their rule as law and also to demonstrate

3139-459: The death of King Clovis of the Franks in 511, the Burgundians became the most prestigious people in Gaul. Gundobad was favored by the court of Constantinople, which awarded him the title of magister militum . Gundobad died peacefully, succeeded by his son Sigismund in 516. He also had another son, Godomar , who would succeed his brother after his execution in 524. In some of the manuscripts of

3212-433: The death of a daughter whose name is not mentioned, gives details that suggest there was more to the story. According to the explication of Danuta Shanzer and Ian Wood of Avitus' notoriously difficult Latin, the bishop writes, "In the past, with ineffable tender-heartedness, you mourned the deaths of your brothers." Further, Avitus alludes to Gundobad's intent to marry his deceased daughter to a foreign ruler, whom they suggest

3285-425: The difficulty of an outsider knowing the dimensions of these criteria that depend on an internal point of view. For Hund, the first form of rule scepticism concerns the widely held opinion that, because the content of customary law derives from practice, there are actually no objective rules, since it is only behaviour that informs their construction. On this view, it is impossible to distinguish between behaviour that

3358-730: The exact date is unclear, with authorities stating it was in either 473 or 474. Once in Burgundy, his three brothers presumably challenged his rule: Godegisel , Chilperic II and Gundomar. Ian Wood speculates that Gundobad's departure may have been connected with the arrival of a new emperor, Julius Nepos , who had the support of the Roman Emperor in Constantinople. Once Julius Nepos landed in Portus (June 474), he deposed Glycerius, whom he made Bishop of Salona . The events of

3431-412: The facts are not contested here). If the defendant means to change the paradigm, they will refer to norms as such, where actually norms are not ordinarily explicitly referenced in Tswana dispute resolution as the audience would typically already know them and just the way one presents one's case and constructs the facts will establish one's paradigm. The headman or chief adjudicating may also do same: accept

3504-408: The first decades of Gundobad's reign are not well known. The only available source that covers this part of his reign is Gregory of Tours , who wrote almost a century later. According to Gregory, Gundobad set about ridding himself of his brothers. First slain was Gundomar, though little is known of this encounter. Next killed was Chilperic. According to Gregory, Gundobad had his wife drowned by tying

3577-476: The formal state legal system". They offer two reasons for the relative autonomy of these customary law systems: one is that the Ethiopian government lacks sufficient resources to enforce its legal system to every corner of Ethiopia; the other is that the Ethiopian government has made a commitment to preserve these customary systems within its boundaries. In 1995, President of Kyrgyzstan Askar Akaev announced

3650-429: The habit and attempts to prevent departures by criticising such behaviour. Second, when this criticism is seen socially as a good reason for adhering to the habit, and it is welcomed. And, third, when members of a group behave in a common way not only out of habit or because everyone else is doing it, but because it is seen to be a common standard that should be followed, at least by some members. Hund, however, acknowledges

3723-547: The judgment of the king how a disputed situation may be handled. It is this conflict between customary and statutory law that one sees the blending of Burgundian and Roman laws. Roman influence is apparent in the very act of writing down Germanic customary law. According to Edward Peters in his foreword to Drew's translation of the Burgundian Code, Roman ideals triumphed when King Gundobad began organizing his people's customary laws in order for their codification. King Gundobad's singular action to codify laws can also be seen as

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3796-433: The legitimacy of a chief is a direct determinant of the legitimacy of his decisions. In the formulation of legislative pronouncements, as opposed to decisions made in dispute resolution, the chief first speaks of the proposed norm with his advisors, then council of headmen, then the public assembly debate the proposed law and may accept or reject it. A chief can proclaim the law even if the public assembly rejects it, but this

3869-491: The lowest class of freeman was 150 solidi. Drew believes that the family was the absolute most important social institution in Germanic tribes. Additionally, its inheritance laws were based on Germanic custom. Land was passed down through a strict law of familial succession, which differs greatly from Roman laws on property that allow property to be acquired through ways other than hereditary inheritance, such as buying and selling or testimonial succession. Among other features,

3942-406: The man broke off the engagement, he got no refund. (§27) The laws of the Burgundians show strong traces of Roman influence. It recognizes the will and attaches great importance to written deeds, but on the other hand, sanctions the judicial duel and the cojuratores (sworn witnesses). The vehement protest made in the 9th century by Agobard , bishop of Lyon , against the Lex Gundobada shows that it

4015-420: The normative basis implied by the parties (or one of them), and thus not refer to norms using explicit language but rather isolate a factual issue in the dispute and then make a decision on it without expressly referring to any norms, or impose a new or different paradigm onto the parties. Hund finds Comaroff and Roberts' flexibility thesis of a 'repertoire of norms' from which litigants and adjudicator choose in

4088-428: The norms (tacitly) from 'the literal to the symbolic. This allows for the accommodation of both as they now theoretically exist in different realms of reality. This is highly contextual, which further illustrates that norms cannot be viewed in isolation and are open to negotiation. Thus, although there are a small number of so-called non-negotiable norms, the vast majority are viewed and given substance contextually, which

4161-588: The personal relations between individuals. The Law of Gundobad (Titles II-XLI) is a compilation of existing customary laws. These laws are mostly a codification of customs that had been accepted as law throughout the tribe through common practice. Drew describes Gundobad's work "as a recording of the customs of his people issued with the consent of the people". The later additions (Titles LXXXVIII-CV and Constitutiones Extravagantes ), which are believed to have been issued primarily by Sigismund, are more rhetorical. They begin with general legal principles and dictate from

4234-412: The personal/political motives of those who create them. The scope for such influence is created by the loose and undefined nature of customary law, which, Hund argues, grants customary-lawmakers (often through traditional 'judicial processes') a wide discretion in its application. Yet, Hund contends that the fact that rules might sometimes be arrived at in the more ad hoc way, does not mean that this defines

4307-455: The process of negotiating solutions between them uncompelling. He is therefore concerned with disproving what he calls "rule scepticism" on their part. He notes that the concept of custom generally denotes convergent behaviour, but not all customs have the force of law. Hund therefore draws from Hart's analysis distinguishing social rules, which have internal and external aspects, from habits, which have only external aspects. Internal aspects are

4380-448: The reflective attitude on the part of adherents toward certain behaviours perceived to be obligatory, according to a common standard. External aspects manifest in regular, observable behaviour, but is not obligatory. In Hart's analysis, then, social rules amount to custom that has legal force. Hart identifies three further differences between habits and binding social rules. First, a social rule exists where society frowns on deviation from

4453-474: The rekindling of Kyrgyz national identity. In a 2005 speech, he connected the courts back to the country's nomadic past and extolled how the courts expressed the Kyrgyz ability of self-governance. Similar aqsaqal courts exist, with varying levels of legal formality, in other countries of Central Asia . The Somali people in the Horn of Africa follow a customary law system referred to as xeer . It survives to

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4526-508: The secondary rules have developed only to the point where laws are determined with reference to politics and personal preference. This does not mean that they are not "rules". Hund argues that if we acknowledge a developmental pattern in societies' constructions of these secondary rules then we can understand how this society constructs its laws and how it differs from societies that have come to rely on an objective, stand-alone body of rules. The modern codification of civil law developed from

4599-481: The system. If one requires a perfect system, where laws are created only deductively, then one is left with a system with no rules. For Hund, this cannot be so and an explanation for these kinds of law-making processes is found in Hart's conception of "secondary rules" (rules in terms of which the main body of norms are recognised). Hund therefore says that for some cultures, for instance in some sections of Tswana society,

4672-482: The term, "paradigm of argument", to refer to the linguistic and conceptual frame used by a disputant, whereby 'a coherent picture of relevant events and actions in terms of one or more implicit or explicit normative referents' is created. In their explanation, the complainant (who always speaks first) thus establishes a paradigm the defendant can either accept and therefore argue within that specific paradigm or reject and therefore introduce his or her own paradigm (usually,

4745-408: The tradition of medieval custumals , collections of local customary law that developed in a specific manorial or borough jurisdiction, and which were slowly pieced together mainly from case law and later written down by local jurists . Custumals acquired the force of law when they became the undisputed rule by which certain rights , entitlements, and obligations were regulated between members of

4818-586: The trajectory of evolution (if any) in the interpretation of such law by relevant courts . A central issue regarding the recognition of custom is determining the appropriate methodology to know what practices and norms actually constitute customary law. It is not immediately clear that classic Western theories of jurisprudence can be reconciled in any useful way with conceptual analyses of customary law, and thus some scholars (like John Comaroff and Simon Roberts) have characterized customary law norms in their own terms. Yet, there clearly remains some disagreement, which

4891-542: The whole Burgundian Code. The Franks began attacking the Burgundians in 523 and completely defeated them by 534, when Sigismund's brother, Godomar (r. 532-534), fled and left the kingdom to be divided amongst Frankish rulers. However, the Franks kept Burgundian law in practice. The Burgundian Code consists of two sets of laws, the earlier Book of Constitutions or Law of Gundobad, or Liber Constitutionum sive Lex Gundobada , and Additional Enactments, or Constitutiones Extravagantes . The laws of both parts are intended to govern

4964-464: The world, one or more types of customary law continue to exist side by side with official law, a condition referred to as legal pluralism (see also List of national legal systems ). In the canon law of the Catholic Church , custom is a source of law. Canonical jurisprudence , however, differs from civil law jurisprudence in requiring the express or implied consent of the legislator for

5037-467: Was King of the Burgundians (473–516), succeeding his father Gundioc of Burgundy . Previous to this, he had been a patrician of the moribund Western Roman Empire in 472–473, three years before its collapse, succeeding his uncle Ricimer . He is perhaps best known today as the probable issuer of the Lex Burgundionum legal codes, which synthesized Roman law with ancient Germanic customs. He

5110-556: Was Clovis: "Indeed," they write, "Clovis is really the only likely candidate as a prospective son-in-law for Gundobad shortly after 501." If their reading is correct, then it is likely that Clotilde was offered to Clovis as an act of diplomacy, not subservience. At this point occurs the earliest firm date in Gundobad's reign: in the early months of 490, while Odoacer and Theodoric the Great were locked in battle over control of Pavia ,

5183-512: Was possibly also entrusted with a mission in connection with the marriage of Gundobad's son Sigismund to Theodoric's daughter Ostrogotho . In his account of this visit, Magnus Felix Ennodius , who accompanied Epiphanius on this journey, describes Godegisel as germanus regis , the "king's brother", and not king—again contradicting Gregory of Tours' later account. Ennodius notes that "more than six thousand souls" were so ransomed; from Lyons alone 400 men were thus freed. Gregory of Tours states

5256-455: Was still in use at that period. So late as the 10th and even the 11th centuries we find the law of the Burgundians invoked as personal law in Cluny charters, but doubtless these passages refer to accretions of local customs, rather than to actual paragraphs of the ancient code. Gundobad Gundobad ( Latin : Flavius Gundobadus ; French : Gondebaud, Gondovald ; c. 452 – 516 AD)

5329-648: Was the husband of Caretene . Gundobad seized the title of Patrician when his uncle Ricimer , who had been the power behind the throne for the Western Empire, died on 18 August 472. According to John of Antioch , Gundobad had previously executed the deposed emperor Anthemius on his uncle's orders. Once in power, Gundobad elevated the current Count of the Domestics, Glycerius , to the position of Western Roman Emperor . However, not long after this Gundobad left for Burgundy where his father, Gundioc, had died;

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