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How were free people and unfree people treated differently under Germanic law?

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Germanic law Euric, statue in the Plaza de Oriente, Madrid.

Under Germanic law, the distinction between free and unfree persons was fundamental, as legal capacity was reserved exclusively for those who were free.1

Legal Status and Rights
* Free Persons: Only free individuals possessed legal capacity. They were further divided into nobles and ordinary freemen, with nobles receiving preferential treatment for public office and greater protection through higher monetary compensation for injuries. Free members of the tribe participated in the tribal assembly, where they elected kings, declared war, and oversaw legal matters.1
* Unfree Persons: Unfree individuals lacked these political and legal rights. While some tribes recognized an intermediate "half-free" status—allowing individuals to marry and engage in certain legal transactions—they remained excluded from the political rights held by the fully free.1

Legal Protections
The system of wergild (compensation for injury or death) explicitly reflected these social hierarchies. Compensation amounts were not uniform; they were determined by the victim's social status, meaning the legal value placed on a person's life or physical integrity varied significantly based on their standing within the tribe.12