The Origins of Money in Early Law Codes

Theorists are especially concerned with this latter possibility. This is partly because they tend to skip past the anthropological literature and look at early law codes, taking inspiration here from philip grierson's work. Grierson was an expert in the european dark ages. And he became fascinated by what have come to be known as the barbarian law codes established by many germanic peoples after the destruction of the roman empire. They could be remarkably creative, both in what could be used as a means of payment and on the precise breakdown of injuries and insults that required compensation.