"In the most corrupt states one finds the most laws."
(Tacitus)
Blood feuds:
The early Germanic juridical system was based on the "eye for an eye" concept; someone who killed an innocent person was killed himself too, most of the times by family members of the victim.
The blood feud system was very deeply rooted in Germanic culture and it took until the late Middle Ages before it completely disappeared.
When a man killed another man it was the right of the family members of the victim to take revenge, if this was not done the family was considered "weak", the revenge often triggered a counter-revenge from the other family which made bloodfeuds get out of hand now and then, to settle the problem the killer (or his family) could pay the family of the victim "werageldaz" (Proto-Germanic), "wergild" (Anglo-Saxon), "weergeld" (Dutch) or "wehrgeld" (German), which means something like "averting-money", if this was accepted the bloodfeud was over.
Paying werageldaz was not seen as something dishonourful, it prevented family feuds which often made matters even worse; a good example is the Celtic society in which wars often broke out between rival clans, some of those family feuds even continue to this day.
Handling of cases:
Juridical matters were handled by the "žing", a folk assembly that dealt with various matters of society, more information about the žing can be found here.
The Germans looked at every case separately, in most modern juridical systems there is a basic law that adresses a case according to certain rules, which causes offenders to receive the same punishment for the same crime; though punishment may be lowered due to extenuating circumstances, a killer is still a killer and he will be punished for it, regardless of his motive.
In the Germanic law system however, there was also a distinction between the different motives for a crime; so for instance, if a man killed an innocent person to steal his posessions it was considered an evil act and he would probably have received the death penalty for it, but if a man killed the person who stole his posessions, it was considered a good act and he would even have been rewared for killing the thief.
Some time ago in the Netherlands an old man was punished for beating up a burglar with a baseball bat, I shall leave my own opinion on that matter in the background, but if the old man had lived 2000 years earlier he would have probably been rewarded for it.
Local morals:
In many rural areas of northern Europe, especially in the Saxon areas and Flanders there was also the so called "volksgericht" (court of the folk), this was an unofficial court that has even survived to this day in some areas, like the žing it was called together when needed, especially when the village morale was offended by acts that were not punishable in the normal law system like adultery or bad treatment of women, children, or old people, influences of the city-culture have added a sensation element to the volksgericht in most areas which has caused the authorities to take a zero-tolerance policy towards it, another problem is that people sometimes make mistakes; in a rural area of the Netherlands for instance there has been a situation some time ago where an innocent man was beaten up because the people had mistaken him for a childmolestor.
The old Germanic lawsystem also took the local customs into consideration; this was called common law or habit law, a verdict about such matters was called a "wijsdom" (wisdom) in Dutch.
The žing did not start a lawsuit about every case themselves like nowadays; the victim or his family had to file a complaint first.
Punishments:
Dishonourful or criminal persons were called "nķdings" and if someone had a feud with another person he could declare him "nķd"; in Scandinavia such a person would then place a wooden pole with a horse head staked on it near the front door of that person to curse him.
People who comitted "small" crimes often had to pay a fine; in older times this was an amount of cattle but in later times also money, this fine had to be paid to the king or the state, and another part of it was for the victim (or his relatives) of the offender's wrongdoings.
A person who had comitted manslaughter (killing someone unintentionally) had to make himself known directly after the act, because if he did not do this it was considered murder and his punishment would be higher.
Death penalty:
The death penalty was also known to the Germans though it was often executed in an indirect way; criminals who were not worthy of their life were declared to be a "wargaz", which is an old Germanic word for wolf, wolves were seen as dangerous animals who posed a threat to children and livestock so every villager had the duty to kill a wolf instantly if he saw one, a similar custom was banning or declaring someone "birdfree" or "outlaw", people who were banned from the law system were no longer protected by it, their posessions became property of the state and their family ties ceased to exist, because those persons were not longer protected by the law everybody could kill them "like a bird in the air".
More direct forms of the death penalty were burying the criminal alive (a practice that continued until the 17th century in the Netherlands) or hanging; the gallow was often positioned outside the city because it was believed to bring bad luck, though it was also done to warn bandits who entered the city to behave themselves well, a dog or wolf was often hung next to the criminal which symbolized the criminal character of his deed.
Deserters, cowards, child molestors, and traitors were often killed and dumped into a peat bog, after which they were covered with a wooden mat-plaiting to conceal the disgrace that person had brought to his family.
The Germanic juridical system:
Germanic society initially did not knew any organized police system, there were however some people concerned with administering justice; in the folk assembly (žing) a man was often appointed who had to enforce the laws of the tribe, this man was assisted by a hundred men who were also appointed by the žing, this men offered him advice and added weight to his decisions.
The Frisians had a legend that described the origin of the laws in Frisia (Friesland), a god arrived in a ship and with a golden axe he steered it to the shore, he then created a well and proclaimed the Frisian laws, this well was called "Axenhowe", it is believed that this god was Forsite (Forsyte/Forseti), though other theories suggest it was Thunar (Donar/Thor).
The Germans often used holy places to hold their lawsuits because the presence of a god(s) was valued in a lawsuit, near the Dutch city of Naarden once stood trees dedicated to the goddess Herta where criminals were punished, in Scandinavia lawsuits were sometimes held under a holy tree dedicated to Frigga, both Frigga and Herta were probably names for the earthgoddess Erda/Berchta/Holda/etc.
Another custom was to hang criminals on a tree dedicated to Wodan; by doing this the criminal was sacrificed to him.
The "hof" (an open space, yard, field, or even building dedicated to a god) was also often used for holding a lawsuit, in the Netherlands the word "hof" is still used in juridical terms; "gerechtshof" is another word for court and for instance "hof van justitie" means court of justice.
The Medieval juridical system:
In many northern European countries the Medieval juridical system still had many influences from the old Germanic one, I shall now give some more information about the Medieval juridical system that existed in the area that is now the Netherlands, though most other northern European countries had a similar system so it is acceptable to generalize a little in this case.
Originally a žing was held at a special place like a holy tree, a good example is the Frisian upstalbeam, which was an oak under which lawsuits were held, the most famous upstalbeam was the one at the city of Aurich in Ostfriesland ("Eastern Frisia") in Germany.
In the 12th century AD representatives of the 7 free Frisian lands gathered there, the Dutch province of Friesland joined this bond after 1320.
In the neighbouring province of Groningen the žing was often held on a "warf", which was originally a hill, the city of Warffum may have been named after this.
During the Middle Ages the rural districts of Frisia and western Groningen were divided into "grietenijen" (griet=part), the head of a grietenij was the grietman who functioned as a plaintiff (comparable to the later Medieval "schout" and the English sherrif), later the grietman also became a judge.
Every grietenij consisted of a few villages and formed a part of the gouw (a "gouw" or "gau" was an old Germanic province), an example of an old Frisian grietenij is the Schoterland.
The province of Twente (Tuvante) was divided into several small parts that were called "kerspels", a kerspel was divided into "dingspels", in the province of Drenthe there was the "etstoel" (oath-chair), which was a landcourt and government organ in that province; it consisted of 24 "etten" (oathed ones) of which 4 from every dingspel, in 1791 this system was replaced by the "Hof van Justitie" (Department of Justice) that still exists today.
In many other rural areas there was the "gouwding" (a court that was held in every gau), in the city this was called "jaarding" (year-žing) or "poortding" (gate-žing) because it was held at the city gates every year.
In the province of Frisia the person who created the verdict was called "asega", though the Franconians called this person "rachimburg", the Frisian "ehera" was the chairman of the court and he also adviced the verdict, his helpers were called "atten" (oathed ones), a rank similar in name to that of the etten in Drenthe, the atten represented the free farmers from the "buurtschappen" (or dingspels) of the kerspel.
The suspect and the witnessess could use oath-helpers; this were people who oathed that the person was speaking the truth and with that they confirmed his credibility.
Germanic lawbooks:
During the Middle Ages the way lawsuits were handled began to change, the Franconian empire began to dominate Europe and subjected many tribes, when Charlemagne conquered the land of the Frisians he prohibited the blood feuds and created a new law that was based on the old Germanic laws and the Romano-Christian laws, he also introduced a new system of fines.
This new Frisian lawbook was called the "Lex Frisonium" (Law of Frisia), and it gives a good impression of the old Germanic laws, the entire book can be found online in English, Dutch, and Latin at: http://www.keesn.nl/lex.
Another very important Germanic lawbook is the Saksenspiegel (Sachsenspiegel), which is a description of Saxon law that was written by Eike von Repkow between 1224 and 1230, it consists of 2 parts; landright and loanright, the Saksenspiegel was not an official lawbook but a private record of common law.
Because the Saksenspiegel has not been influenced by Roman law it is a very important source of knowledge about Germanic jurisdiction.
Other surviving Germanic lawbooks are:
The Codex Euricianus from the 5th century (Visigothic law).
The Lex Romana Visigothorum from 506AD (adapted Visigothic law for Roman subjects).
The Lex Visigothorum from 654AD (mixture of Visigothic and Roman law).
The Lex Gundobada or Lex Burgundionum from 484AD (Burgundian law).
The Lex Romana Burgundinum from the 5th century (adapted Burgundian law for Roman subjects).
The Mühlhäuserbuch (Thuringian law).
The Saksenspiegel from the beginning of the 13th century (Saxon law).
The Schwabenspiegel from 1275 (Suebian law).
The Lex Salica from 508AD (Salian Franconian law).
The Lex Ripuaria (Ripuarian Franconian law).
The Lex Saxonum (Saxon law).
The Lex Angliorum et Verinorum (Anglo-Saxon law).
The Lex Baiuvariorum (Bavarian law).
The Lex Alamannorum (Allemannic law).
The Lex Frisonium from 800 (Frisian law).
The Rudolfsboek from 1220 (Frisian law).
The Reichsrechtsbuch from the beginning of the 13th century (law of Medieval Germany).
The Deutschenspiegel from 1275, made in Augsburg and based on the Saksenspiegel.
The Leges Barbarorum from 802AD (Visigothic, Burgundian, Ostrogothic, Salic Franconian, Ripuarian Franconian, Chamavian, Thuringian, Saxon, Anglo-Saxon, Frisian, Alemannic, Bavarian, and Langobardic law (most of them are already mentioned above)).
The early Germanic juridical system was based on the "eye for an eye" concept; someone who killed an innocent person was killed himself too, most of the times by family members of the victim.