| |
| | Edward Gibbon : On Personal Law (1776) |
 | | Before the election of the Merovingian kings, the most powerful tribe, or nation, of the Franks, appointed four venerable chieftains to compose the Salic laws, and their labours were examined and approved in three successive assemblies of the people. |
 | | After the baptism of Clovis, he reformed several articles that appeared incompatible with Christianity: the Salic law was again amended by his sons; and at length, under the reign of Dagobert, the code was revised and promulgated in its actual form, one hundred years after the establishment of the French monarchy. |
 | | Such an indulgence would abolish the partial distinctions of victory: and the Roman provincials might patiently acquiesce in the hardship of their condition, since it depended on themselves to assume the privilege, if they dared to assert the character, of free and warlike barbarians. |
| www.panarchy.org /gibbon/law.1776.html (780 words) |
|