Editing Rolls of Oléron

{{Short description|Sea law written in the late 12th century}}
{{Infobox document
| document_name        = Rolls of Oléron
| image                = Cleirac ordonnances et coutumes de la mer seconde partie.jpg
| date_created         = Between 1160 and 1286
| purpose              = [[Maritime law]]
}}

The Rolls of Oléron{{sfn|Runyan|1975}} ([[French language|French]]: ''Jugements de la mer, Rôles d'Oléron'') are the oldest and best-known sea law regulating medieval shipping in North-western Europe. The Rolls of Oleron were the first common sea law written in the Isle of [[Oléron]], [[France]], in the late 12th century, prior to 1180, later evolving to encompass Northern Europe. Any later sea laws written in Northern Europe are largely based on or inspired by the Rôles d'Oléron.

==Origin==
The Rolls of Oleron originally regulated the wine trade from [[Brittany]] and [[Normandy]] to [[England]], [[Scotland]] and [[Flanders]] but were widely disseminated in the later [[Middle Ages]] and became an important sea law.

===Different sources of origin===
There is some disagreement among historians as to how and when the Rolls of Oléron came into existence. One of the oldest beliefs is that [[Eleanor of Aquitaine]] had the laws written down around 1160 when she returned from the [[Holy Land]].{{sfn|Tetley|2002|p=4}} Another theory is that her son, [[Richard I]], had them written down after his own return from the Holy Land towards the end of the 12th century, but that is highly unlikely.{{sfn|Frankot|2012|p=12-13}} There is no sign in the Rolls that someone as important as a king or queen had anything to do with its creation.{{sfn|Frankot|2012|p=27|loc=footnote 37}}

Some recent historians have argued that the Rolls were written in the 13th century, between 1224 and 1286. {{sfn|Frankot|2012|p=27|loc=footnote 36}}

==Etymology==
The Rolls of Oleron are named after the Isle of [[Oléron]] for an unclear reason. One theory is that one of the manuscripts was copied from an exemplar of the ‘Jugements de la mer’' that was kept on the island and that the name stuck.{{sfn|Frankot|2007|p=168}}

The Rolls of Oleron are known by a variety of names, which include the "Rules of Oléron”,<ref>[http://www.admiraltylawguide.com/documents/oleron.html The Rules of Oleron]</ref> the "Law of Oléron",<ref>[http://www.stexboat.com/books/maritime_law/law_oleron.htm The Law of Oleron]</ref> the "Charter of Oléron of the Judgments of the Sea" and the "Judgements of Oléron". Its Flemish translation became known as the “Vonnesse van Damme”.

==Structure and content==
The original text of the Rolls of Oleron contained 24 articles, but because some articles were subsequently omitted, divided or combined in the various copies, surviving texts sometimes include a different number of judgements. 
Each article regulates aspects of sea shipping, such as the payment of freightage in case of shipwreck, the reimbursement of damages, and the securement of both the ship and the cargo.

==Distribution and common usage==
In France, the Rolls of Oleron had been adopted as the official sea law by 1364.{{sfn|Frankot|2007|p=153}}

The document was originally written in French and later translated into Spanish, Scots and Flemish/Dutch.{{sfn|Frankot|2007|p=153}} It is likely that the Scots translation is based on the French version because of similarities.{{sfn|Frankot|2010|p=138}} It does not appear that the court in [[Aberdeen]] used the translated version in its legal practice.{{sfn|Frankot|2012|p=195}}

The Flemish/Dutch translation is known as the [[Vonesse van Damme]].{{sfn|Frankot|2012|p=161}} The oldest extant copies of the Rolls are in the [[Little Red Book of Bristol]]<ref>[https://ouclf.law.ox.ac.uk/the-search-for-a-medieval-lex-mercatoria/ The search for a medieval Lex mercatoria] by Albrecht Cordes. Accessed 10 September 2020</ref> and the [[Liber Horn]].{{sfn|Frankot|2012|p=13}} In the second half of the 14th century, the [[Ordinancie]] appeared as a new sea law in the [[Zuiderzee]] area in the [[Netherlands]]. In most manuscripts, that law was combined with the Vonesse van Damme. Some historians have argued that the Ordinancie was written as a supplement to the Rolls, but that is not likely because two laws in the Ordinancie were copied directly from the Rolls, and the rest regulates approximately the same subjects as the Rolls.{{sfn|Frankot|2012|p=6}}

The Rolls of Oleron had been officially adopted in England by the reign of [[King Edward III]]: in 1351, a Bristol inquest confirmed that the rolls had statute of law. Most shipment of wine was done with English ships and crew. Therefore, the crew needed to know the rules.{{sfn|Runyan|1975|p=99}} According to Albrecht Cordes, in the 14th century, the influence of the Rolls of Oleron extended to Spain and, most importantly, to Flanders, where they were translated into Flemish.<ref name=":0" /> However, the Rolls of Oleron were integrated in the [[Kingdom of Navarre|Navarrese]] charter of [[San Sebastián]] in 1180, which summarized practices already used along the coast of the Cantabrian Sea (Gulf of Biscay) and overall the European Atlantic coast.<ref>{{Cite web|title=4 El fuero de San Sebastián|url=https://www.ingeba.org/liburua/donostia/43fuero/43fuero.htm|access-date=2021-06-07|website=www.ingeba.org}}</ref> The Rolls of Oleron were relatively short compared to other contemporary sea laws and, as such, can be considered to have been among the easiest to use.<ref name=":0">[https://ouclf.law.ox.ac.uk/conflicts-in-13th-century-maritime-law-a-comparison-between-five-european-ports/ Conflicts in 13th Century Maritime Law: A Comparison between five European Ports] by Albrecht Cordes. Accessed 17 September 2020</ref>

Sometimes known as the "Lawes of Pleron," they also formed the basis of similar agreements among 17th and 18th century [[Privateer|privateers]] and pirates, known as [[Pirate code|Articles]].<ref name="Berger">{{cite web |last1=Berger |first1=Klaus Peter |title=The Lex Mercatoria (Old and New) and the TransLex-Principles |url=https://www.trans-lex.org/the-lex-mercatoria-and-the-translex-principles_ID8 |website=www.trans-lex.org |access-date=21 October 2021 |language=de}}</ref>

==Today==
The Rolls of Oleron were included in the ''[[Black Book of the Admiralty]]'' in 1336, but the original book disappeared from the registry of the High Court of Admiralty at the beginning of the 19th century.<ref>[https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100248626 Overview: Laws of Oleron] Accessed 17 September 2020</ref> Only a few manuscript copies of parts of this book, some dating to about 1420, are extant and kept in the [[British Library]] and the [[Bodleian Library]]. The laws are still occasionally cited as authority by U.S. courts.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/topic/maritime-law Maritime Law] by Nicholas J. Healy. Accessed 10 September 2020</ref>

==Sources==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin|33em}}
* {{cite book
	|last= Frankot
	|first= Edda
	|editor1-last=Pan-Montojo
	|editor1-first=Juan
	|editor2-last=Pedersen
	|editor2-first=Frederik
	|title=Communities in European history. Representations, jurisdictions, conflicts
	|publisher=Assoiciation of American Presses
	|date= 2007
	|pages=151–172
	|chapter= Medieval Maritime Law from Oléron to Wisby: Jurisdictions in the Law of the Sea
	|chapter-url=http://www.cliohworld.net/onlread/5/01.pdf
	|isbn= 9788884924629}}
* {{cite journal
	|last=Frankot
	|first=Edda
	|date=2010
	|title=Maritime Law and Practice in Late Medieval Aberdeen
	|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23073503
	|journal=The Scottish Historical Review
	|volume=89
	|issue=228
	|pages=136–152
	|doi=10.3366/E0036924110001459|jstor=23073503
	}}
* {{cite book
	|last= Frankot
	|first= Edda
	|date=2012
	|title='Of Laws of Ships and Shipmen': Medieval Maritime Law and its Practice in Urban Northern Europe
	|publisher=Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press
	|doi=10.3366/edinburgh/9780748646241.001.0001
	|isbn=9780748646241}}
* {{cite journal
	|last= Runyan
	|first=Timothy J.
	|date=1975
	|title=The Rolls of Oleron and the Admiralty Court in Fourteenth Century England
	|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/844801
	|journal=The American Journal of Legal History
	|volume=19
	|issue=2
	|pages= 95–111
	|doi=10.2307/844801|jstor=844801
	}}
* {{cite book
	|last=Tetley
	|first=William
	|author-link=William Tetley
	|editor1-last=Nafziger
	|editor1-first=James
	|editor2-last=Symeonides
	|editor2-first=Symeon
	|title=Law and Justice in a Multistate World|publisher=Transnational Publishers Inc
	|date=2002
	|pages=439–457
	|chapter=Maritime Liens in the Conflict of Laws
	|chapter-url=https://www.1215.org/lawnotes/work-in-progress/maritime-liens.pdf}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* [[Erastus C. Benedict|Benedict EC]], Jhirad EE, Knauth AW and Knauth CR (1973) [https://books.google.com/books?id=6kM3AQAAIAAJ&q=%22Benedict+on+Admiralty%22+%22volume+1%22 ''Benedict on Admiralty''] Volume 1, Ch II, § 26. M. Bender.

==External links==
* Full text: [http://www.admiraltylawguide.com/documents/oleron.html The Rules of Oléron ~1266]
* Full text: [https://www.trans-lex.org/116770/_/a-lex-mercatoria-of-the-sea-in-piergiovanni-vito-from-lex-mercatoria-to-commercial-law-s-207-et-seq-/  The Rules of Oléron ~1266]

==See also==
* [[Lex mercatoria]]
* ''[[Book of the Consulate of the Sea]]''
* [[Laws of Wisbuy]]
* [[Law of the sea]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rolls Of Oleron}}
[[Category:1160s in France]]
[[Category:12th century in law]]
[[Category:Admiralty law]]
[[Category:Oléron]]
[[Category:Eleanor of Aquitaine]]
[[Category:Richard I of England]]