Germanic law, Old Several Latin law codes of the Germanic peoples written in the Early Middle Ages after the Fall of the Western Roman Empire (also known as leges barbarorum "laws of the barbarians ") survive , dating to between the 5th and 9th centuries. They are influenced by Roman law , canon law , and earlier tribal customs. Central and West European Germanic law differed from North Germanic law . Germanic law was codified in writing under the influence of Roman law ; previously it was held in the memory of designated individuals who acted as judges in confrontations and meted out justice according to customary rote, based on careful memorization of precedent . Among the Franks they were called rachimburgs . "Living libraries, they were law incarnate, unpredictable and terrifying." [1] Power, whose origins were at once said to be magical, divine, and military, was, according to Michel Rouche, exercised jointly by the "throne-worthy" ...