FLANDERS
In the eleventh and twelfth centuries the counts of Flanders, whose territory covered much of what is today Belgium and Holland and who were kings in everything but name, took a full part in the revolutionary transformation of Western law.
The Peace of God movement appeared in Flanders in the eleventh century, the most important peace declarations being those of 1034 and 1099. The first secular peace statute (Landfriede) was proclaimed in 1111 when, shortly before his death, Count Robert II assembled his notables and had them swear the peace. This document was of major importance for the future development both of Flemish urban law and of Flemish common law ("law of the land"). It was renewed by Robert's successors in 1111, 1119, 1138, and frequently thereafter. It has been called "the foundation of most of the provisions of the old Flemish law." 59It was Count Philip ( 1169-1191), however, whose reign coincided with that of Henry II of England and of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and overlapped that of Philip Augustus of France, who may be said to have founded the modern system of Flemish law. Philip has been called "the first lawgiver of Flanders." 60 He legislated partly through peace statutes. Also, he granted many cities, including Bruges, which was then the leading commercial center of Europe, their own law, called Keure. He centralized justice by maintaining a system of royal law-enforcement officials, called bailiffs. In 1178 he issued a statute concerning the powers of bailiffs which included a provision that the bailiff could seize any wrongdoer who had not yet been presented before the assessors, and that a penalty would be imposed on anyone who did not answer a bailiff's call for assistance. 61
Out of the dynastic struggles following Philip's death, Count Balduin I of Henegau emerged to rule Flanders.
In his own county he was already renowned as a lawgiver: in 1200 he had issued two statutes for Henegau, one on fiefs and one dealing with criminal law and procedure. Henegau, unlike Flanders, also had a collection of customs, called the coutume generale. When Balduin went to Flanders he took with him his learned men to compose works on its law, its customs, and its history.Although Flanders did not have strong rulers after Balduin, the activity of law-giving continued in the thirteenth century, and the Flemish counts had some success in extending their administration into
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the countryside and rationalizing their governmental and legal apparatus. The doctrine of cas reserves ("reserved cases") was developed as a device to remove various crimes from the traditional local and feudal jurisdictions to that of the counts. By the late thirteenth century the counts, on the advice of their professional jurists, were using arguments from Roman law to further their aims. However, their centralizing ambitions were eventually frustrated by corporate political entities of another type, which had their own law, a law granted by the counts -- namely, the Flemish cities.