laced with Germanic legal principles and practices through the Twelfth Century, when scholars in Italy "rediscovered" written records of Roman law. It has generally been assumed that Roman law then became the basis for the civil codes which were gradually introduced throughout the continent.
This theory was challenged, however, beginning in the Nineteenth Century, as several legal scholars began to argue that Roman law influenced Western European law from the very beginning of the medieval period. Roman legal institutions never completely disappeared in Western Europe and certain principles of medieval European law were strongly influenced by Roman law. In addition, Roman law was never abandoned by the Ch
...