The ''Lex Romana Curiensis'' ("Roman Law of Chur"), also known as the ''Lex Romana Raetica'', ''Lex Romana Utinensis'' or ''Epitome Sancti Galli'', is a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

legal treatise A legal treatise is a scholarly legal publication containing all the law relating to a particular area, such as criminal law or trusts and estates. There is no fixed usage on what books qualify as a "legal treatise", with the term being used broadl ...

of the eighth century from the region of

Churraetia Raetia Curiensis (in Latin; german: Churrätien, rm, Currezia) was an early medieval province in Central Europe, named after the preceding Roman province of ''Raetia prima'' which retained its Romansh culture during the Migration Period, while t ...

.Floyd Seyward Lear (1929), "''Crimen Laesae Maiestatis'' in the ''Lex Romana Wisigothorum''", '' Speculum'', 4(1), 73–87, at p. 77. It was not a law code in force, but a handbook for use in legal education."Lex Romana Curiensis"
in ''Bibliotheca Legum: A Database on Carolingian Secular Law Texts'' (Universität zu Köln). Accessed 14 December 2018. Nonetheless, it may be the basis of the Raetian ''lex et consuetudo'' (law and custom) that

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...

confirmed in the early 770s.

The ''Lex Romana Curiensis'' is an epitomization of the ''

Breviary of Alaric The ''Breviary of Alaric'' (''Breviarium Alaricianum'' or ''Lex Romana Visigothorum'') is a collection of Roman law, compiled by unknown writers and approved by referendary Anianus on the order of Alaric II, King of the Visigoths, with the a ...

'' (506). It is divided into 27 books. It does not treat all the material in the ''Breviary'', perhaps because its source was itself an epitomized version. It does not contain sections on some of the so-called '' Sentences of Paul'', the

Codex Gregorianus The ''Codex Gregorianus'' (Eng. Gregorian Code) is the title of a collection of constitutions (legal pronouncements) of Roman emperors over a century and a half from the 130s to 290s AD. It is believed to have been produced around 291–4 but the e ...

, the

Codex Hermogenianus The ''Codex Hermogenianus'' (Eng. Hermogenian Code) is the title of a collection of constitutions (legal pronouncements) of the Roman emperors of the first tetrarchy (Diocletian, Maximian Augusti, and Constantius and Galerius Caesars), mostly from ...

or the ''Responsa'' of

Papinian Aemilius Papinianus (; grc, Αἰμίλιος Παπινιανός; 142 CE–212 CE), simply rendered as Papinian () in English, was a celebrated Roman jurist, ''magister libellorum'', attorney general (''advocatus fisci'') and, after the dea ...

. The differences between the ''Lex'' and the ''Breviary'' stem not from the rhetorical choices of the creator of the former, but from the deficiencies in his legal education. He did not fully understand

Roman law Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the ''Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor J ...

. The ''Lex'' is therefore usually presented as an example of customary West Roman vulgar law committed to writing.Jon Peider Arquint
"Lex romana Curiensis"
''

Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse The ''Historical Dictionary of Switzerland'' is an encyclopedia on the history of Switzerland that aims to take into account the results of modern historical research in a manner accessible to a broader audience. The encyclopedia is publishe ...

''. Accessed 14 December 2018. For example, the ''Lex'' cites the Roman

Law of Citations The Law of Citations (''Lex citationum'') was a Roman law issued from Ravenna in AD 426 by the emperor Valentinian III, or rather by his regent mother, Galla Placidia Augusta, to the Senate and the people of Rome, and it included in both Theodosiu ...

of 426, but whereas the original law says that judges should follow the majority interpretation of the law and where there was none that of Papinian, the redactor of the ''Lex'' says that he who brings the most

oath-helper Compurgation, also called trial by oath, wager of law, and oath-helping, was a defence used primarily in medieval law. A defendant could establish their innocence or nonliability by taking an oath and by getting a required number of persons, typi ...

s to court wins and that ties should be decided in favour of whoever could cite the ''Lex Papianus'', that is, the ''

Lex Romana Burgundionum The ''Lex Burgundionum'' (Latin for Burgundian Laws, also ''Lex Gundobada'') refers to the law code of the Burgundians, probably issued by king Gundobad. It is influenced by Roman law and deals with domestic laws concerning marriage and inherit ...

''. In other places, the text bears marks of Germanic legal influence.

Origins and manuscript history

The date and place of composition of the ''Lex Romana Curiensis'' are disputed, although most scholars today favour an eighth-century origin in Churraetia. Earlier scholars placed its composition anywhere between the middle of the eighth century and the middle of the ninth and anywhere from Churraetia to

Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...

Istria Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; ist, Eîstria; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian, Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; formerly in Latin and in Ancient Greek) is the larges ...

southern Germany Southern Germany () is a region of Germany which has no exact boundary, but is generally taken to include the areas in which Upper German dialects are spoken, historically the stem duchies of Bavaria and Swabia or, in a modern context, Bavaria ...

. According to Paul Vinogradoff, it "is a statement of legal custom, drawn up for the Romance population of Eastern Switzerland, and used in the Tyrol and Northern Italy as well."Floyd Seyward Lear (1931), "Blasphemy in the ''Lex Romana Curiensis''", ''Speculum'', 6(3), 445–59, at p. 445. Modern scholars favour an early eighth-century date. The Croatian historian Lujo Margetić claims it was produced under

around 803 as a "legal handbook" for the lands of the former

Avar Khaganate The Pannonian Avars () were an alliance of several groups of Eurasian nomads of various origins. The peoples were also known as the Obri in chronicles of Rus, the Abaroi or Varchonitai ( el, Βαρχονίτες, Varchonítes), or Pseudo-Avars ...

. The ''Lex Romana Curiensis'' is preserved in full in three manuscripts as well as two fragments. Two of the manuscripts were made in Churraetia and are now in the archives of

Pfäfers Abbey Pfäfers Abbey (german: Kloster Pfäfers), also known as St. Pirminsberg from its position on a mountain, was a Benedictine monastery in Pfäfers near Bad Ragaz, in the canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland. Situated at the junction of the Tamina an ...

and the

Abbey of Saint Gall The Abbey of Saint Gall (german: Abtei St. Gallen) is a dissolved abbey (747–1805) in a Catholic religious complex in the city of St. Gallen in Switzerland. The Carolingian-era monastery existed from 719, founded by Saint Othmar on the spot w ...

. The other is originally from

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...

, although it was kept for a long time first at

Aquileia Aquileia / / / / ;Bilingual name of ''Aquileja – Oglej'' in: vec, Aquiłeja / ; Slovenian: ''Oglej''), group=pron is an ancient Roman city in Italy, at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about from the sea, on the river N ...

and later at

Udine Udine ( , ; fur, Udin; la, Utinum) is a city and ''comune'' in north-eastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Alps (''Alpi Carniche''). Its population was 100,514 in 2012, 176,000 with t ...

, whence it was taken by Gustav Friedrich Hänel to Germany in the nineteenth century. Since then it has resided in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

. The copying of the Veronese manuscript has been associated with the reign of Lambert in Italy. The two fragmentary texts are both from

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. The ''

editio princeps In classical scholarship, the ''editio princeps'' (plural: ''editiones principes'') of a work is the first printed edition of the work, that previously had existed only in manuscripts, which could be circulated only after being copied by hand. For ...

'' (first edition) of the ''Lex Romana Curiensis'' was published by Paolo Canciani in 1789 from the Verona manuscript. Since the work did not have a title in the manuscript, he gave it the name ''Lex Romana'' by which it has been known ever since. He classified it among the ''

leges barbarorum Germanic law is a scholarly term used to described a series of commonalities between the various law codes (the ''Leges Barbarorum'', 'laws of the barbarians', also called Leges) of the early Germanic peoples. These were compared with statements ...

'' (laws of the barbarians).

Friedrich Carl von Savigny Friedrich Carl von Savigny (21 February 1779 – 25 October 1861) was a German jurist and historian. Early life and education Savigny was born at Frankfurt am Main, of a family recorded in the history of Lorraine, deriving its name from the cast ...

(1829)
''The History of the Roman Law During the Middle Ages''
(Edinburgh), vol. 1, p. 401.

Notes

Editions

*Canciani, Paolo (ed.)
"Lex Romana"
''Barbarorum leges antiquae cum notis et glossariis'', Vol. 4, pp. 469–510. Venice, 1789. *Zeumer, Karl (ed.)

''

Monumenta Germaniae Historica The ''Monumenta Germaniae Historica'' (''MGH'') is a comprehensive series of carefully edited and published primary sources, both chronicle and archival, for the study of Northwestern and Central European history from the end of the Roman Empire ...

'', Leges V, pp. 289–444. Hanover, 1888. *Meyer-Marthaler, Elisabeth (ed.). ''Die Rechtsquellen des Kantons Graubünden: Lex Romana Curiensis''. Aarau, 1959.

References

{{Authority control Roman law codes

Contents

Origins and manuscript history

Notes

Editions

References