Sources of SECTION 1. the English IT is generally agreed that the laws of England law. Esprit des Loix, 1. 28. e. 1. are derived from those of the northern nations, who, migrating from the forests of Germany, overturned the Roman empire, and established themselves in the southern part of Europe. 2. Both the Danes and Saxons were undoubtedly swarms from the northern hive: it may therefore be presumed that the description which Tacitus has left us of the manners and customs of the Germans is in every respect applicable to them; and as the Saxons, upon their establishment in England, exterminated rather than subdued the antient inhabitants, they introduced their laws, without adopting the smallest portion of those which prevailed among the antient Britons. 3. The French nation also derive their origin from a tribe of Germans, who crossed the Rhine under Clovis, and established themselves in the northern provinces of France. 4. The different German tribes were first governed by codes of laws formed by their respective chiefs. One of the most antient of these is the Salic law, which is generally supposed to have been written in the fifth century. 5. Montesquieu says the tribe of the Ripuarian Franks, having united themselves to the Salian Franks, under Clovis, preserved their original customs. That Theodoric King of Austrasia, got them reduced into writing: He also collected the Laws of the Bavarians and Germans, who were subject to his Kingdom. Charlemagne, who was the first conqueror of the Saxons, gave them a code of laws, which is still extant. 6. While Clovis and his descendants governed |