 In this the Franks lagged behind the Burgundians and the Visigoths, that they had no universal Roman-based law.In Merovingian times, law remained in the rote memorisation of "rachimburgs", who memorised all the precedents on which it was based, for Merovingian law did not admit of the concept of creating "new" law, only of maintaining tradition.Nor did its Germanic traditions offer any code of civil law required of urbanised society, such as Justinian I caused to be assembled and promulgated in the Byzantine Empire.