post-Roman law in the west

Abstract The successor kingdoms that controlled Rome’s former western territories ruled by laws which are the subject of debate. A major question turns on whether these laws were rooted in enduring Roman norms modified by variations in local custom (“vulgar” law) or show traces of “Germanic” traditions. Elements of both can be found in the sources. Britain used new legal forms transmitted in a Germanic language; Visigothic Spain and Ostrogothic Italy relied mostly on Roman traditions; northern Gaul used Latinate codes which incorporate Germanic legal principles that operated in parallel with Roman law; Lombard Italy preserved mostly Germanic law in statutes but shows Roman forms in documents of practice; and Vandal North Africa followed Roman law. A second major question asks whether the various successor states imposed uniform laws on all peoples in their territories (“territorial law”) or insisted that individuals follow the laws corresponding to their ethnicity (“personal law”).