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Book of the Customs of Tortosa

Date
1272
Archive
County Archive of Baix Ebre
Document type
Textual
Reference code
CAT-ACTE-11-1758
Link to the online document
Description

The Book of the Customs of Tortosa, compiled in 1272, is much more than a local legal code: it is the first legal text written in Catalan and one of the pillars of Catalan civil and maritime law. This normative corpus regulated daily life, social relations and commercial activities of a key city on the Mediterranean axis. In addition, it contains the embryo of maritime usages and customs that, over time, would be codified in the Consulate of the Sea, one of the great Catalan contributions to international maritime law. The Book of Customs reflects the institutional maturity of Tortosa and its integration into a Europe of cities with their own right, local government and commercial projection. It is a living testimony of how law, language and commerce came together to build an open, structured and connected society with the world.