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Old French law, referred to in French as ''l'Ancien Droit'', was the law of the
Kingdom of France The Kingdom of France ( fro, Reaume de France; frm, Royaulme de France; french: link=yes, Royaume de France) is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the medieval and early modern period ...
until the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are consider ...
. In the north of France were the ''Pays de coutumes'' ('customary countries'), where
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 ...
s were in force, while at the south were the ''Pays de droit écrit'' ('countries of written law'), where
Roman law Roman law is the 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 ...
had remained paramount. Roughly speaking, the line separating the two areas was the river
Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...
, from
Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
to the mouth of the
Charente Charente (; Saintongese: ''Chérente''; oc, Charanta ) is a department in the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, south western France. It is named after the river Charente, the most important and longest river in the department, and ...
, although this was not a firm border between the two categories of law. As worded by George Mousourakis, "in both zones, the law in force also included elements derived from royal,
feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...
, and canonical sources."


''Pays de coutumes''

In the north existed a variety of customs "with a Frankish-Germanic character." The ''coutumes'' were asserted and enforced under
feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...
during the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
and in the early modern period by the French kings and their vassals, especially in the lands of the
Île-de-France The Île-de-France (, ; literally "Isle of France") is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France. Centred on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the country and often called the ''Région parisienne'' (; en, P ...
, to the exclusion of Roman law. A number of regional customs were compiled in custumals starting from the 13th century: e.g. the ''
Coutumes de Beauvaisis The ''Coutumes of Beauvaisis'' is a book on medieval French law composed by Philippe de Beaumanoir at the end of the 13th century in Old French prose. The text covers a wide range of topics both on procedural and substantive law and is quite ...
'', compiled by Phillipe de Remy. By the 16th century, the ''Coutume de Paris'' (first published in 1510) would eventually extend to all of the
Parliament of Paris The Parliament of Paris (french: Parlement de Paris) was the oldest '' parlement'' in the Kingdom of France, formed in the 14th century. It was fixed in Paris by Philip IV of France in 1302. The Parliament of Paris would hold sessions inside the ...
' jurisdiction and beyond in cases of lacunae in the local customs. Antoine Loysel published a work of 958 legal maxims developed over a period of 40 years distilling the ''coutumes'' in his in 1607. Further development of customary law had been halted by the late 16th century. For example, Claude de Ferrière commented that "community of goods" ("a partnership between married persons of all personal property, and of all real property acquired during the marriage state") prevailed "throughout all customary France, except
Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
,
Rheims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded by ...
and
Auvergne Auvergne (; ; oc, label=Occitan, Auvèrnhe or ) is a former administrative region in central France, comprising the four departments of Allier, Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal and Haute-Loire. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Auve ...
."


''Pays de droit écrit''

As worded by George Mousourakis, "after the revival of Roman law in the late eleventh and twelfth centuries and the spread of its study from
Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...
to
Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the department of Hérault. In 2018, 290,053 people ...
and other parts of France, the Roman law of Justinian was rapidly received in southern France and came to be accepted as the living law of the land", even though, as emphasized by Ernest Glasson, "''coutumes'' did develop in those southern regions, and they often contradicted Roman law." "Prior to this, the ''pays de droit écrit'' in the south followed pre-Justinian Roman law, based primarily on the Code of Theodosius II (A.D. 438)", as reissued in the '' Alarician Breviary''. As worded by Antonio Padoa-Schioppa,


Attempts at codifying

In the 18th century,
Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his '' nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity— ...
declared that in travelling through France one changed the laws as often as one changed horses. When the Napoleonic Code entered into force in 1804 all the ''coutumes'' were abolished. However, French customary law was incorporated into the substance of the code.


North America

In 1664, under the royal act creating the
French East India Company The French East India Company (french: Compagnie française pour le commerce des Indes orientales) was a colonial commercial enterprise, founded on 1 September 1664 to compete with the English (later British) and Dutch trading companies in t ...
, the Custom of Paris became the only law of the land in
New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by Kingdom of France, France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to King ...
. In 1866 the Civil Code of Lower Canada was adopted in
Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec ...
. The majority of the Code's rules borrowed heavily from the Custom of Paris.


See also

*
Legal history of France The legal history of France is commonly divided into three periods: that of the old French law (), that of the Revolutionary or intermediary law (), and that of the Napoleonic law or ''Droit nouveau'' ('New law'). Old French law Revolutionary l ...


References

{{Reflist, 30em Customary legal systems Custom