I shall first discuss the laws of inheritance as affecting women, in order to note what property she was allowed to acquire.  In this connection it is well to bear in mind a difference between Roman and Germanic law.  The former viewed an inheritance as consisting always of a totality of all goods, whether of money, land, movables, cattle, dress, or what not.  But among the Germanic peoples land, money, ornaments, and the like were regarded as so many distinct articles of inheritance, to some of which women might have legal claims of succession, but not necessarily to all.  This is most emphatically shown in the case of land.  Of all the barbarian peoples, the Ripuarians alone allowed women the right to succeed to land.[329] Among other nations a daughter or sister or mother, whoever happened to be the nearest heir, would get the money, slaves, etc., but the nearest male kin would get the land.[330] Only if male kin were lacking to the fifth degree—­an improbable contingency—­did alodial inheritance “pass from the lance to the spindle."[331] In respect to all other things a daughter was co-heir with a son to the estate of a father or mother.  According to the Salic and Ripuarian law this would be one order of succession[332]: 

   I. Children of the deceased. 
  II.  These failing, surviving mother or father
of deceased. 
III.  These failing, brother or sister of deceased. 
  IV.  These failing, sister of mother of deceased. 
   V. These failing, sister of father of deceased. 
  VI.  These failing, male relatives on father’s side.

It will be observed that in such a succession these laws are more partial to women relatives than the Roman law; an aunt, for example, is called before an uncle.  An uncle would certainly exclude an aunt under the Roman law; but most of the Germanic codes allowed them an equal succession.[333] Nevertheless, when women did inherit under the former, they acquired the land also.  Moreover, the woman among the Germanic nations must always be under guardianship; and whereas under the Empire the power of the guardian was in practice reduced to nullity, as I have shown, among the barbarians it was extremely powerful, because to assert one’s rights often involved fighting in the lists to determine the judgment of God.  It was a settled conviction among the Germanic peoples that God would give the victory to the rightful claimant.  As women could not fight, a champion or guardian was a necessity.  This was not true in Roman courts, which preferred to settle litigation by juristic reasoning and believed, like Napoleon, that God, when appealed to in a fight, was generally on the side of the party who had the better artillery.

Children inherited not only the estate but also the friendships and enmities of their fathers, which it was their duty to take up.  Hereditary feuds were a usual thing.[334] King Liutprand ordaine[335] however, that if a daughter alone survived, the feud was to be brought to an end and an agreement effected.