Editing Germanic peoples (section)

===Germanic law===
{{Main|Early Germanic law}}
[[File:Bracteate from Funen, Denmark (DR BR42).jpg|thumb|Germanic bracteate from Funen, Denmark]]

Until the middle of the 20th century, the majority of scholars assumed the existence of a distinct Germanic legal culture and law.{{sfn|Dilcher|2011|pp=241–242}} Early ideas about Germanic law have come under intense scholarly scrutiny since the 1950s, and specific aspects of it such as the legal importance of ''[[Sippe]],'' retinues, and loyalty, and the concept of outlawry can no longer be justified.{{sfn|Timpe|Scardigli|2010|p=811}}{{sfn|Dilcher|2011|p=245}} Besides the assumption of a common Germanic legal tradition and the use of sources of different types from different places and time periods,{{sfn|Timpe|Scardigli|2010|p=811}} there are no native sources for early Germanic law.{{sfn|Timpe|Scardigli|2010|pp=798–799}}{{sfn|Dilcher|2011|p=243}} The earliest written legal sources, the ''Leges Barbarorum'', were all written under Roman and Christian influence and often with the help of Roman jurists,{{sfn|Lück|2010|pp=423–424}} and contain large amounts of "Vulgar Latin Law", an unofficial legal system that functioned in the Roman provinces.{{sfn|Timpe|Scardigli|2010|pp=800–801}}

As of 2023, scholarly consensus is that Germanic law is best understood in contrast with [[Roman law]], in that whereas Roman law was "learned" and the same across regions, Germanic law was not learned and incorporated regional peculiarities.{{sfn|Dusil|Kannowski|Schwedler|2023|p=78}} Common elements include an emphasis on [[orality]], gesture, formulaic language, legal symbolism, and ritual.{{sfn|Dilcher|2011|pp=246–247}} Some items in the "Leges", such as the use of vernacular words, may reveal aspects of originally Germanic, or at least non-Roman, law. Legal historian Ruth Schmidt-Wiegand writes that this vernacular, often in the form of Latinized words, belongs to "the oldest layers of a Germanic legal language" and shows some similarities to Gothic.{{sfn|Schmidt-Wiegand|2010|p=396}}{{sfn|Timpe|Scardigli|2010|p=801}}