Editing Visigoths (section)

===Law===
The [[Visigothic Code|Visigothic Code of Law]] ([[Latin language|Latin]]: ''Forum Iudicum),'' also called ''Liber Iudiciorum'' (English: Book of the Judges) and ''Lex Visigothorum'' (English: Law of the Visigoths), is a set of laws first promulgated by king [[Chindasuinth]] (642–653 AD) that had been part of [[aristocratic]] oral tradition and were set in writing in the year 654. This book survives in two separate [[codices]] preserved at [[el Escorial]] (Spain). It goes into more detail than a modern constitution commonly does and reveals a great deal about Visigothic social structure.{{sfn|Collins|2004|pp=6–8}} The code abolished the old tradition of having different laws for Romans (''leges romanae'') and Visigoths (''leges barbarorum''), and under which all the subjects of the Visigothic kingdom ceased being ''romani'' and ''gothi'' and instead became ''hispani''. All the kingdom's subjects were under the same jurisdiction, which eliminated social and legal differences and facilitated greater assimilation of the various population groups.{{sfn|O'Callaghan|1975|p=49}} The Visigothic Code marks the transition from [[Roman law]] to [[Early Germanic law|Germanic law]].

One of the greatest contributions of the Visigoths to [[family law]] was their protection of the property rights of married women, which was continued by [[Law of Spain|Spanish law]] and ultimately evolved into the [[community property]] system now in force throughout the majority of western Europe.{{sfn|Coolidge|2011|pp=17–25}}