Editing Visigothic Code (section)

{{Short description|Set of laws used in the Visigothic Kingdom}}
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[[Image:LiberIudiciorum01.jpg|thumb|The cover of an edition of the ''Liber Iudiciorum'' from 1600.]]
The '''''Visigothic Code''''' ({{langx|la|Forum Iudicum, Liber Iudiciorum}}, or Book of the Judgements; {{langx|es|[[Fuero Juzgo]]}}), also called '''''Lex Visigothorum''''' (English: ''Law of the Visigoths''), is a set of laws first promulgated by king [[Chindasuinth]] (642–653 AD) of the [[Visigothic Kingdom]] in his second year of rule (642–643) that survives only in fragments. In 654 his son, king [[Recceswinth]] (649–672), published the enlarged law code, which was the first law code that applied equally to the conquering Goths and the general population, of which the majority had [[Roman Empire|Roman]] roots, and had lived under Roman laws.

The code abolished the old tradition of having different laws for Romans (''leges romanae'') and Visigoths (''leges barbarorum''), and under it all the subjects of the Visigothic kingdom would stop being ''romani'' and ''gothi'' instead becoming ''hispani''. In this way, all subjects of the kingdom were gathered under the same jurisdiction, eliminating social and legal differences, and allowing greater assimilation of the populations.<ref>{{cite book|last1=O'Callaghan|first1=Joseph|title=A History of Medieval Spain|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofmedieva00ocal|url-access=limited|date=1975|publisher=Cornell University Press|location=Ithaca, NY|isbn=9780801492648|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofmedieva00ocal/page/49 49]}}</ref> As such, the ''Code'' marks the transition from the [[Roman law]] to [[Ancient Germanic law|Germanic law]] and is one of the best surviving examples of ''leges barbarorum''.{{clarify|date=February 2024}}<!--This sentence and the previous one seem to contradict each other. If the code legally 'assimilated' the Goths to the Romans, surely that would mean moving away from Germanic law towards more Roman law and would make it a *bad* example of ''leges barbarorum''? Indeed, if it 'abolished the old tradition of having (separate) ''leges barbarorum'', as an earlier sentence says, how can it simultaneously be 'one of the best surviving examples' of these ''leges''?--> It combines elements of the [[Roman law]], Catholic law and Germanic tribal [[customary law]].