Visigoths Quotes
We both permit and desire that the laws of foreign nations shall be studied for the sake of the useful knowledge that may be obtained from them, but we reject and prohibit their employment in the business of the courts.
This is a principle that most American jurists would applaud, with the exception of the very far right that does not even want foreign law consulted by the courts even for “useful knowledge” that they might contain. This is the most formalized and sophisticated compendium of laws of the so-called “barbaric peoples” of Europe. The compilation was in many ways a documentation of the traditional laws of the Visgoths that had evolved over hundreds of years.
Visigothic Code, Section VIII, Book II, Forum Judicum, On the validity of foreign law, Legal Compilation of the laws of the Spanish Visigoths, ~650
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There is a school of thought that argues that American courts should NEVER look at the opinions of foreign courts. They argue that our legal system is determined by the Constitution and American Laws as well as the English Common Law. They believe that no consideration or weight should by given to court opinions even from Canada or Australia. Most jurists agree with Breyer. Foreign legal precedents should be examined to see what might be learned but should not be determinatitive.
This was an amazing leap in the inducement of foreign trade. The Visigoths valued foreign trade so highly that they realized that many foreign merchants would not come to “barbarian lands” for fear of running afoul of local “barbarian” laws. To motivate trade, they actually gave up their legal sovereignty. Rome and the other larger markets did not have to make such concessions. This is the most formalized and sophisticated compendium of laws of the so-called “barbaric peoples” of Europe. The compilation was in many ways a documentation of the traditional laws of the Visigoths that had evolved over hundreds of years.
It passed with 70 percent of the vote. It was triggered by a case in New Jersey where a Muslim man assaulted and raped his wife, and the Judge found that he did not have the “Criminal Intent” because he was brought up under Sharia law which allows a husband for beat a wife and force her to have sexual relations if she refused. The New Jersey appellate court overturned the judge’s decisions, but the Oklahoma advocates for the Question argued that this initiative would be sure that no judge in Oklahoma would make a similar judicial decision.
The Visigoths (/ˈvɪzɪɡɒθs/; Latin: Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in Late Antiquity, or what is known as the Migration Period. The Visigoths emerged from earlier Gothic groups, including a large group of Thervingi, who had moved into the Roman Empire beginning in 376 and had played a major role in defeating the Romans at the Battle of Adrianople in 378. Relations between the Romans and the Visigoths were variable, alternately warring with one another and making treaties when convenient. Under their first leader, Alaric I, they invaded Italy and sacked Rome in August 410. Afterwards, they began settling down, first in southern Gaul and eventually in Hispania, where they founded the Visigothic Kingdom and maintained a presence from the 5th to the 8th centuries AD.
