Germanic Women in the Eyes of Law

Germanic laws focused mainly on community and kinship ties, they clearly defined social divisions and organized the life of the community. The law was not to be perceived as a product of the times, it was passed on from generation to generation and conveyed the wisdom of the elder. Every crime against another person or their property, independently of whether it concerned family laws, laws of property or any other laws, had to be compensated in accordance with customary rules as well as the social status of the aggrieved.The paper takes the perspective of social and cultural anthropology and aims to shed some light on the legal situation of women in Germanic laws. The author’s aim is to investigate the position of women and their legal status in Germanic society. The paper compares the situation of young women who remained under the protection of their fathers and brothers with the situation of wives, mothers and finally widows. The author discusses the crimes committed on women and the severity of their punishment that are mentioned in the available manuscripts of legal texts. The paper aims at presenting both the image and legal status of a Germanic woman.