Assizes of Ariano

The assizes established the large Sicilian bureaucracy and sought to maintain the feudal system under strict royal control.

The work was advanced for its day, deriving its precepts not only from Norman and French, but also Muslim and Byzantine (especially Justinian) legal theories.

These men, now duke of Apulia and prince of Capua respectively, had consolidated Norman rule over the peninsula and made it possible for the great feats of legislation that year.

The Assizes affirm that the king is the only lawgiver in Sicily, that he is both judge and priest (as he holds the legatine powers from the pope), and all Sicilians were equal and under the same laws, whether Latin, Greek, Jew, or Muslim, Norman, Lombard, or Arab.

It was also detailed in other crimes of violence: cowardice in battle, arming a mob, or withholding support from the king or his allies.

[citation needed] Roger's final act at Ariano was the issuance of a low-quality coinage standard for the entire realm, the ducat, taking its name from the duchy of Apulia.

"[2] Therefore, the legislator was clearly very conscious of ruling over a multi-ethnic state; he respected the individual character of the various groups, although only insofar as this did not conflict with his overriding supervision.