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Lex Salica (Salic Law)

Also Known As Salic Law, Salian Law
Roman and Late Antique Law

Lex Salica, the law code of the Salian Franks, was compiled around 500 CE at the order of Clovis I, the first king to unite the Franks, and published between 507 and 511. Written in Late Latin, it governed both civil matters such as inheritance and property and criminal compensation, or wergild, for injury and theft. Its most historically consequential provision barred women from inheriting land, a rule later stretched by medieval jurists into the doctrine that excluded women from succeeding to the French throne.

Of Salic land no portion of the inheritance shall come to a woman: but the whole inheritance of the land shall come to the male sex, as recorded in the code's inheritance title.

Facts
Era
compiled c. 500 CE, published 507 to 511 CE 1
Promulgated By
Commissioned by Clovis I, first king of the Franks, drafted by four appointed commissioners 1
Era
Era (category)
Medieval / Pre-1500 1
Connections

In Legal System

Sources
1. Salic Law (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia
  • Historical Development section
    Clovis appointed four commissioners to research customary law that, until the publication of the Salic law, had been recorded only in the minds of designated elders.
  • section on female inheritance
    Of Salic land no portion of the inheritance shall come to a woman: but the whole inheritance of the land shall come to the male sex.
Salic law (Wikipedia)
In Group: Germanic Kingdom Law Codes, Introduction, sentence 1
Quote, In Group: Germanic Kingdom Law Codes, Introduction, sentence 1
The Salic law ( or ; Latin: Lex salica), also called the Salian law, was a Frankish civil law code compiled around 500 AD by Clovis, the first Frankish king.
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