and
the making of butter and cheese, the building of houses, the bringing
of salt from the sea, the making of garments, and the construction of
weapons of war and utensils of convenience--these represent the chief
industries of the people. Later, the beginnings of commerce sprang up
between the separate tribes, and gradually extended to other
nationalities.

_Contributions to Law_.--The principle of the trial by jury, which was
developed in the English common law, was undoubtedly of Teutonic
origin. That a man should be tried by his peers for any misdemeanor
was considered to be a natural right. The idea of personal liberty
made a personal law, which gradually gave way to civil law, although
the personal element was never entirely obliterated. The Teutonic
tribes had no written law, yet they had a distinct legal system. The
comparison of this legal system with the Roman or with our modern
system brings to light the individual character of the early Germanic
laws. The Teuton claimed rights on account of his own personality and
his relation to a family, not because he was a member of a state.

When the Teutons came in contact with the Romans they mingled their
principles of law with those of the latter, and thus made law more
formal. Nearly all of the tribes, after this contact, had their laws
codified and written in Latin, by Roman scholars, chiefly of the
clergy, who incorporated not only many elements of Roman law but also
more or less of the elements of Christian usage. Those tribes which
had been the longer time in contact with the Romans had a greater body
of laws, more systematized and of more Roman {292} characteristics.
Finally, as modern nationality arose, the laws were codified, combining
the Roman and the Teutonic practice.

The forms of judicial procedure remained much the same on account of
the character of Teutonic social organization. The personal element
was so strong in the Teutonic system as to yield a wide influence in
the development of judicial affairs. The trial by combat and the early
ordeals, the latter having been instituted largely through the church
discipline, and the idea of local courts based upon a trial of peers,
had much to do with shaping the course of judicial practice. The time
came, however, when nearly every barbarian judicial process was
modified by the influence of the Roman law, until the predominance of
the state, in judicial usage, was recognized in place of the pe