Norman law (, , ) refers to the

customary law A legal custom is the established pattern of behavior that can be objectively verified 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, consuetudina ...

of the

Duchy of Normandy The Duchy of Normandy grew out of the 911 Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte between King Charles III of West Francia and the Viking leader Rollo. The duchy was named for its inhabitants, the Normans. From 1066 until 1204, as a result of the Norman c ...

which developed between the 10th and 13th centuries and which survives today in the legal systems of

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

and the other

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

. It grew out of a mingling of

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages * Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany * East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...

customs and

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

ones after the creation of Normandy as a Norse colony under French rule in 911. There are traces of (Anglo-)Scandinavian law in the customary laws of Normandy. A charter of 1050 (''Cartulaire Saint-Pierre-de-Préaux'', concerning the land of

Vascœuil Vascœuil () is a commune in the Eure department in Normandy in northern France. Population See also *Communes of the Eure department The following is a list of the 585 communes of the Eure department of France. The communes cooperate in ...

),Elisabeth Ridel, ''Les vikings et les mots : l'apport de l'ancien scandinave à la langue française'', éditions Errrance, 2009, p. 101-102-103-104 listing several pleas before Duke William II, refers to the penalty of banishment as ''ullac'' "(put) out of law" (from

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

''útlagr'' "(be) banished"), well attested in the Norwegian and Anglo-Saxon laws as ''utlah'' and those sentenced for ''ullac'' are called ''ulages'' (< ''útlagi'' "outlaws"). The word was still current in the 12th century, when it was used in the ''

Roman de Rou ''Roman de Rou'' is a verse chronicle by Wace in Norman covering the history of the Dukes of Normandy from the time of Rollo of Normandy to the battle of Tinchebray in 1106. It is a national epic of Normandy. Following the success of his ''Roma ...

'' by

Wace Wace ( 1110 – after 1174), sometimes referred to as Robert Wace, was a Medieval Norman poet, who was born in Jersey and brought up in mainland Normandy (he tells us in the ''Roman de Rou'' that he was taken as a child to Caen), ending his care ...

. Another word mentioned in the same charter is ''hanfare'' (or ''hainfare'', ''haimfare'', ''hamfare'' < Old Norse ''heimför'') which punishes the offense of ''invasio domus'', known mainly in England as ''hamsocn''. In the ''Très ancien Coutumier'' (1218 - 1223) this crime is called in Latin ''assultus intra quatuor pertica domus'' "assault inside the house". Marriage ''

more danico The phrase ''more danico'' is a Medieval Latin legal expression which may be translated as "according to Danish custom", i.e. under Medieval Scandinavian customary law. It designates a type of traditional marriage practiced in northern Europe ...

'' ("in the Danish manner"), that is, without any ecclesiastical ceremony in accordance with old Norse custom, was recognised as legal in Normandy and in the Norman church. The first three dukes of Normandy all practised it.Jean Renaud, "The Duchy of Normandy", in Stefan Brink, ed., ''The Viking World'' (Routledge, 2008), pp. 453–57. Scandinavian influence is especially apparent in laws relating to waters. The duke possessed the '' droit de varech'' (from

''vágrek'', influenced phonetically ''*vreki'' "wreck"), the right to all shipwrecks. He also had a monopoly on whale and sturgeon. A similar monopoly belonged to the Danish king in the Jutlandic law of 1241. The Norman Latin terms for whalers (''valmanni'', from ''hvalmenn'') and whaling station (''valseta'', from ''hvalmannasetr'') both derive from Old Norse. Likewise, fishing seems to have come under Scandinavian rules. A charter of 1030 uses the term ''fisigardum'' (from Old Norse ''fiskigarðr'') for "fisheries", a term also found in the

Scanian law Scanian law ( da, Skånske Lov, sv, Skånelagen) is the oldest Danish provincial law and one of the first Nordic provincial laws to be written down. It was used in the geographic region of Danish Skåneland, which at the time included Scania, ...

of ''c''. 1210. Norman customary law was first written down in two customaries in

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 ...

by two judges for use by them and their colleagues: the ''Très ancien coutumier'' (''Very ancient customary'') authored between 1200 and 1245; and the ''Grand coutumier de Normandie'' (''Great customary of Normandy'', originally ''Summa de legibus Normanniae in curia laïcali'') authored between 1235 and 1245. The Channel Islands remained part of the Duchy of Normandy until 1204 when King

Philip II Augustus Philip II (21 August 1165 – 14 July 1223), byname Philip Augustus (french: Philippe Auguste), was King of France from 1180 to 1223. His predecessors had been known as kings of the Franks, but from 1190 onward, Philip became the first French m ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

conquered the duchy from King

John of England John (24 December 1166 – 19 October 1216) was King of England from 1199 until his death in 1216. He lost the Duchy of Normandy and most of his other French lands to King Philip II of France, resulting in the collapse of the Angevin Emp ...

. The islands remained in the personal possession of the King of England and were described as being a Peculiar of the Crown. They retained the Norman customary law and developed it in parallel with continental Normandy and France, albeit with different evolutions.Various sources via:

References

External links

An Introduction to the History of Guernsey Law Jersey Legal System and Constitutional Law
(Institute of Law, Jersey, 2011) {{DEFAULTSORT:Norman Law Normandy Legal history of France Customary legal systems Duchy of Normandy