Formation of Catalan Law: Charters & Liber Iudiciorum
Catalonia: Early Legal Development
The Formative Stage: Population Charters
The formative stage of Catalan law occurred between the 9th and 13th centuries. Geographically, this law applied primarily to ‘Old Catalonia’ and was characterized by:
- The maintenance and subsequent decline of the Visigothic law, the Liber Iudiciorum.
- The appearance of population charters and franchises, which the counts used to address emerging needs.
- The expansion of feudal law through the usatges (customs or usages), namely the constitutions of the Counts of Barcelona and agreements from their curia (assemblies and tribunals).
Decline of the Liber Iudiciorum
The persistence of Visigothic law occurred through a Liber Iudiciorum that became stagnant and inflexible.
Its validity was recognized, but new provisions resulting from emerging problems were not incorporated into the text. Its renewal was not legislated, with the exception of some additions made at the initiative of the Church.
The climate of violence that emerged in the 9th century led to the development of complementary law:
- On one hand, this affected the archaic provisions of the code.
- On the other hand, it crystallized in different texts.
Meanwhile, there was a progressive confusion between written law and custom, blurring the precise essence of the Liber‘s precepts. This led it to its decline (an expression used by Professor Church), although the Visigothic legal tradition persisted, partly integrated into Catalan customs. The Liber Iudiciorum came to be recognized as supplementary law to some new local costums (customs).
Population Charters and Franchises
With the repopulation process, the system of population charters and franchises arose. These texts were granted for places needing new populations or whose development was intended to be promoted. In theory:
- Population Charters (littera populationis) correspond to places that needed to be populated and where new settlers were established.
- Franchise Charters (littera franchitatis) consist of exemptions (frankness and freedom, meaning exemption from certain charges or obligations), release from old charges, or general improvement of existing, more burdensome legal rules.
However, we must consider whether this distinction actually occurred in Catalan practice. Font Rius has shown in his studies the extent to which there are areas of convergence and similarity between these two types of documents:
- Sometimes the population charter (littera populationis) does not have a clear, explicit purpose of repopulation.
- Conversely, because the franchise charter’s (littera franchitatis) purpose clause clearly aims to encourage population, it effectively becomes a “charter of exemption for the people.”
Characteristics of Catalan Population Charters
- Catalan population and franchise charters generally have more concise and restricted content compared to those in other regions.
- The persistence of Visigothic law and the fabric of feudal law determined that these texts were unlikely to develop a comprehensive legal system (like those in Castile, Aragon, and Navarra). They were strictly limited to expressing the status of places to be populated or improving the previous law through exemptions and privileges.
- In the vast collection of charters published by Font Rius, only a small minority appear as comprehensive local legal statutes.
- The settlement charter granted to Cardona in 986 symbolizes the ambitious type of population and franchise charter.
- These documents are occasionally referred to collectively as Early Medieval Charter Law in Catalonia.