Table Of ContentThe
Etablissements
de Saint Louis
University of Pennsylvania Press
MIDDLE AGES SERIES
General Editor
RUTH MAZO KARRAS,
Temple University
Founding Editor
EDWARD PETERS,
University of Pennsylvania
A complete list of books in the series is available
from the publisher.
The EtMissements
de Saint Louis
Thirteenth-Century Law Texts
from Tours, Orleans, and Paris
Translated and with an Introduction by
F. R. P. AKEHURST
PENN
University of Pennsylvania Press
Philadelphia
Copyright © 1996 by the University of Pennsylvania Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The Etablissements de Saint Louis : thirteenth-century law texts from Tours,
Orleans, and Paris / translated and with an introduction by F. R. P. Akehurst.
p. cm. — (Middle Ages series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8122-3350-6 (alk. paper)
i. Etablissements de Saint Louis. 2. Law—France—History. 3. Customary
law—France—History. 4. Law, Medieval. I. Akehurst, F. R. P. II. Series.
KJV263.E86 1996
340.3*0944—dc20 96-20334
CIP
For my children
Mary and Colin
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
Abbreviations xvii
Introduction xxi
The Laws of Saint Louis i
Prologue 3
BOOK 1
THE RULES OF PROCEDURE IN THE CHÂTELET 7
1. The first rubric of the first case is: The duties of the
provost. 7
2. On forcing witnesses to give testimony in the provost's
court. 10
3. On forbidding judicial battles and producing valid proof. 10
4. On informing the plaintiff about the penalty and on
contesting witnesses. 11
5. These are the cases of high justice of barons. 12
6. On appealing against a man for serfdom in the secular
court. 13
7. On reversing a judgment in the king's court. 13
8. On appealing against your lord for default of judgment. 14
9. On punishing false witnesses. 14
THE CUSTOMS OF TOURAINE AND ANJOU 15 15
10. On gifts by a gentleman to his children, and how they
should distribute the estate if the father dies without
making provisions. 15
viii Contents
11. On making partitions. 16
12. On distributions made among sisters after the father's
death. 17
13. On the marriage gift given at the church door and
keeping it for life after the heir has cried or yelled. 17
14. On promiscuous gentlewomen. 18
15. On having a partition as the oldest son. 18
16. On purchased or otherwise acquired real property. 18
17. On [a gentlewoman] paying her husband's debts. 18
18. On the rights of gentlewomen and on keeping their
dower in good condition. 19
19. On keeping custodianship lands in good condition until
the heir comes of age. 19
20. Suits on land. 20
21. On gifts to a [new] knight [or] as a marriage gift. 20
22. On distributing property descended from grandfathers
and grandmothers. 20
23. On lateral inheritance from brothers. 21
24. On relief paid for land held in coholdership. 21
25. On marrying a commoner. 21
26. On distributing a barony. 22
27. On high justice in a barony; on murder, rape, and
homicide of pregnant women [ancis], 22 22
28. On summoning and banishing an offender and coming
and destroying property after the banishment. 23
29. On suspicion and summonses by a judge in the secular
court. 24
30. On fights. 24
31. On requesting a guaranteed peace [asseürement] in the
secular court, and on broken truces. 25
32. On stealing an animal or a horse, and loss of limb for
the offense. 26 26
33. On high justice in the matter of treachery by a
household member. 26
34. On the jurisdiction of a [lower] vassal [vavassor]. 26 26
35. On women who consort with thieves or murderers. 26
36. On going along with murderers and thieves. 27
37. On accomplices of murderers. 27
38. On punishing suspicious persons on the initiative of the
provost. 27
39. On women's misadventure and a repeat thereof. 28
40. On the intention of homicide without more. 28
Contents ix
41. On threats and refusing to give a guaranteed peace
before the judge, and on requesting [a guaranteed
peace] from the sovereign, maintaining the rights
[droit faisant] of the parties. 28
42. On the power of [lower] vassals to administer justice. 29
43. On releasing thieves and clearing oneself of suspicion. 30
44. On requesting jurisdiction and cognizance, according to
correct procedure, and leading off by the hand a
man under one's jurisdiction, to one's court,
honestly. 30
45. On arresting and pursuing [suite] murderers and thieves. 31
46. On coholders [of fiefs]. 32 32
47. On holding [fiefs] as coholders. 32
48. On demonstrating your kinship to your lord, and on
holding as a coholder without giving a service horse
[roncin de service]. 3 3
49. How a man should behave toward his lord when [the
lord] threatens him with losing his land. 33
50. On showing your fief to your liege lord. 34
51. On cutting wood in a forest. 35
52. On [a gentleman's] laying hands on his lord with evil
intent, and on lawfully defending his lineage against
his rightful liege lord without losing his fief. 36 36
53. On summoning your vassal to make war on the king. 36
54. On resisting arrest by your lord, giving false measure,
and fishing in [his private] fish pond, and hunting
and catching rabbits in [his] game preserve, and
lying with [his wife or daughter] by force. 37
55. On deflowering by force a woman who is in
custodianship or guardianship. 37
56. On [a lord's] refusing a hearing and the judgment of his
court to his liegeman and others. 38
57. On standing an honest watch at your liege lord's castle. 38
58. On gentlemen's personal property when they lose it
[perdent leur propre]. 3/8
59. On a complaint made in the king's court against your
lord, without paying a fine to your lord. 39
60. On inspections made by a judge. 39
61. On the king's law [Du droit au prince]. 40
62. On thieves or murderers. 40
63. The tax-free status [franchise] of a gentleman. 41 41
64. The tax-free status of officers [servant]. 41 41
