Customary law refers to established practices and standards recognized as binding in a specific community or region. The authority or legal force of such customs or traditions often rest on their claims to have been practiced since time immemorial, even though the customs themselves clearly evolved over time. Scholars debate the origins of customary law, the importance of its oral as opposed to its written transmission, and its relationship to civil, common, criminal, urban, and canon law. These pages provide introductions to the bibliographies, primary sources, and some of the secondary literature of customary law, as well as links to excerpts, full texts, and digitized manuscripts of customary law sources ranging from the fifth to the fifteenth century and covering many European regions.
[These pages are a work in progress.]