Lex Antiqua Valachorum

Lex Antiqua Valachorum, meaning "Ancient Wallachian Law", also called "Jus Valahicum/Valachorum" ("the Wallachian Right"), represents a collection of the Romanian pre-statal judicial system, with afferent juridical rituals, customs and traditions, kept and transmitted from generation to generation.

In the Romanian lands

Considered holy, this system was known as "Legea pământului"/"Obiceiul Pământului" ("the Earth's Law"), "Legea Ţării" ("the Law of the Country") or "Legea Străbuna" ("the Ancient Law") in the Romanian language. Most probably this set of laws developed in the Early Middle Ages, when the natives, not part of any local statal entities of their own, had to find way to interact with the military dominant nomadic tribes which swept the lands during the Age of Migrations (see Early Middle Ages in Romania). The first Romanian Law Codexes, such as those of Alexandru cel Bun, Vasile Lupu, Matei Basarab ("Pravila de la Govora" - 1640; "Îndreptarea Legii" - 1652), Grigore Callimachi ("Codul Calimachi"; 1817), Ioan Gheorghe Caragea ("Legiuirea lui Caragea"; 1818) left "maneuver" space for the power of these laws, and directly referred to it, regarding other sensitive laws. In Romania, the position of the laws had maintained powerful well until the 19th century, but after the appearance of the Civil Code of 1864, it's powers were refrained, although some articles (such as 548, 600, 607, 1351, 1456, 1443), still referred directly to it.

Content and description

The laws concerning property are about the relationship between man and the land administration, regarding fields and crops, pastures, forests, roads, etc., norms regarding the agricultural works: cultivating soil and raising livestock, logging, the work hierarchy, etc.

The laws also concerned the social organisation of the population, of patriarchal pyramidal scheme, whose levels although estimated on competence, were isolated with an objective criteria: the age. At the base was the undefined (whole) mass of village inhabitants, in charge with tasks of general interest (e.g.: the "Caloian"). At a superior level there were the unmarried youths between 17 and 26 years old, grouped according to spiritual characteristics in a very disciplined manner, and lead by an elected chieftain called "jude" which sometimes wore zoomorphic masks. They had to carry certain taks and rituals (calendaristic: solstice or equinox rituals, such as the "Colindat" ritual, agrarian rituals, e.g.: the "Cununa", pastoral rituals, e.g.: "Roata de Foc", religious rituals, e.g.: the "Căluşari", or pseudo-military, e.g.: "Arcaşii", "Junii", "Şoimii" rituals, the Haiduc bands, etc.). The pyramid's next level was constituted by the married, established men, and culminated with the "Ceata Bătrânilor" (the "Old men's Clan"), gathered into a council, with extended prerogatives: care for the perpetuation and unaltered preservation of ancient habits and customs, and assuring the complete respect of the "Ancient Law". Usually, the judgement was done in front of the elders, starting from the dawn until dusk. The sentences, such as mild or heavy physical punishments, expulsion from the village or even death, were respected by all inhabitants.

Among other concepts, without modern recognised corespondents, were the law of hospitality, the law of humanity, the law of purity, the law of family relations and organizations, etc.

Transylvania

As part of the Hungarian Kingdom (see Universitas Valachorum) the Romanians had the right to administrate themselves, as done in Maramureş, Ţara Hategului, etc. Slowly, feudal systems were imposed, such as the 1515 "Tripartitum" of István Verboczy, and later with other judicial codes, such as the Habsburg one.

The Wallachian Law had greatly influenced the Székelys, during the centuries old cohabitation with Romanians, from which they inherited many of the ancient judicial characteristics: administration and judicial village forums, the organisations into "Seats" ("Szék" in Hungarian language, "Scaune" in Romanian Language), the village judge and juries, etc.

Outside the Romanian lands

Jus Valahicum

Many Romanians were shepherds in the medieval times, driving their sheep through the mountains of Southeastern Europe. Called "Vlachs" by the slavic peoples, these shepherds as they penetrated into the medieval states of the times, had to find ways to integrate into the Feudal society, yet at the same time successfully tried to preserve and to continue using their own set of laws.

It was in these circumstances that the "Jus Valachicum" ("the Wallachian right") had developed in relation with the states they found themselves, a relation primarily based on the main occupation of these Vlachs, that is transhumance. The Vlachs could freely use their own judicial system, as opposed to the official one. In exchange for these privileges, the Vlachs had military obigations, of guarding and protecting the borders and mountainous areas, and even as militia, protecting the populations against thieves and bandits. The Vlachs were also charged with specific taxes, most typical being the sheep fiftieth tax.

The Vlach Law was officially regognised as used by:
* Moravian Vlachs
* Gorals
* Morlachs

In Serbia, the Vlachs were subordonate only to the King, or sometimes, to monasteries on the lands they found themselves. In many cases, the only requested obligation was the payment of metayage for grazing on the properties of the monastery. The fact that the Vlachs lived according to their own set of laws is the fact that they did not had a status on the Feudal pyramid, being only tolerated shepherds, unlike the rest of the population, who were regular serfs on the estates. To be permitted to graze their sheep on the territory of the estates, they were obliged to also graze the sheep of the estate and to give each year a female sheep with her lamb out of fifty sheep (the "quinquagesima"). The landlords had to pay taxes according to the number of Vlachs living on their territory.

Nnumerous documents (hrisovs) written by kings and noblemen during the 12th to 15th centuries, present the situation of these Vlachs in raport with the state. In the hrisovs of Prizren, the obligations of the Vlachs within the Serbia, who were subjects to the king, are stated: each of them had to give each year, out of 50 sheep, one sheep with a lamb and a cow; and each second year a horse [Silviu Dragomir: "Vlahii din nordul peninsulei Balcanice în evul mediu"; 1959, p. 122.] . Their situation became more clearly defined when the Serbian lords started to make laws concerning them. Such laws or statutes were made at first for the Vlachs of the monasteries of Dusanovac (near Negotin,State: Bor),Studenica and Milosevo. Their obligations are, however, clearly shown by the so called "law of the Vlachs", found in the hrisov of Banja and in two of Czar Dusan's donations, those from Vranje and Prizren. In general, the Vlachs provided all the products of grazing and also with all kinds of transports facilities [Silviu Dragomir: "Vlahii din nordul peninsulei Balcanice în evul mediu"; 1959, p. 172.] .

In Poland (see Gorals), the special character of the Romanian villages was given by the "Jus Valachicum", and had to respect stated certain norms to be recognised by the feudal lord. Among these, most important was the need for a cneaz in front of a village, having a "jurisdiction" (ethnic and territorial range within which he could apply the Lex Valachorum), economical obligations, and used as "interface" between the community and the lord. The peasant had the right to be treated according to the jus Valachicum also in case he moved to another village. Thus, the "Vlach right" had an economic part and a juridical one, which could not be violated. In relation with the state own tools of imposing and assuring of the respect of the law, the Vlachs usual reply was: "Take me to your lord. I possed the Vlach right". The Vlachs protested against those who "dared to interfere and violate the recognized privileges of the Vlachs", as stated in a document from the year 1447 [Ştefan Meteş: "Emigrări româneşti din Transilvania în secolele XIII - XX (cercetări de demografie istorică)"; Bucureşti, 1977, 2nd edition, p. 30.] . In the course of time, however, the use of it has decreased until it disappeared [ibidem] .

In the Czech lands the Vlachs rebelled when the Habsburgs tried to put an end to their privileges (see Moravian Wallachia).

As Vlachs numbers increased and actively involved into the political life of the states they found themselves, the term had come to mean a juristic institutions regulating the economy and way of life of the peoples who lived a transhumant life style, hence applied not exclusively to the members of enclaves inhabited by a Romanian speaking population. The fact is corroborated with the phenomenon of losing the Romanian language and the adoption of another language as they moved further and further, being absorbed in the mass of the surrounding peoples, and it is the main reason for this new appliance of the term "Jus Valahicum". This has led to the use of the "Vlach Law" by people later nominated as Serbs, Ruthenians, Slovaks, etc.

The Vlach contribution to the shaping of modern identities of west Balkan states like Montenegro, Serbia, and Bosnia is very important [ [http://www.vanleer.org.il/default_e.asp The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute] : The National Question - "Antecedents and Antipodes" [http://www.vanleer.org.il/Data/UploadedFiles/Files/national7.pdf .pdf] ] . For example, in Montenegro during the Ottoman conquest the land was devastated and depopulated. There followed a steady inflow of Vlach herdsmen from Bosnia (which in their turn came from western Transylvania and Banat in the 10th and 11th century), organized in their pastoral cantons ("cătun"). The interblending of these newcomers and the remaining peasants living in the sedentary lowland viilages produced a territorially constituted tribal society; to this community the "village brought a feeling for legal order, while the katun introduced the blood feud, respect for the word of honor, hospitality, and the cult of brotherhood by adoption" [Ivan Bozic: "Svijet ratnickih družina i stocarskih katuna" in "Crna Gora u doba oblasnih gospodara"; voI.2, pl.2, Istorija Crne Gore, ed. Milinko Djurovic; Titograd,1970;p.349.] , basically the same "Lex Antiqua Valachorum".

See also:
* Opanak, traditional shoes worn in the medieval Serbia, of Romanian origin ("Opinci" in Romanian).
* History of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

ee also

* History of Romania
* Vlachs
* Istro-Romanians
* Romanian folklore

References and footnotes

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