The Celtic Romano-British where displaced - later by the English (Anglo-Saxons). The Anglo-Saxons largely followed the Scandinavian legal code. A more Romanised code was reintroduced by the Normans.
This is an interesting topic. I saw the moderator warning, though...maybe you could start a new thread about it?
If anyone has defended this particular product, they are decidedly in the minority. I'm not exactly Mr. Sensitivity over here but my response to reading the OP was, "Holy #%#%! That's a really bad, offensive publication!"
...
That's pretty much where I am. I don't always agree with all the changes, but I'm not going to fault WotC or any company for making changes to settings, adventures, or new adaptations of old material. I expect them to make whatever changes are necessary to meet the needs of their audience.
If I had to define my own position on the issue, I would say that I agree that the changes are necessary, and I agree that Wizards of the Coast will need to make extensive changes if they are going to publish new works that are based on old materials. (And since all new works are pretty much based on old works, to some degree....well, you can extrapolate from there.)
Fortunately, WotC has acknowledged these issues, and they have demonstrated that they are making corrections going forward. Consider the changes to race (now "origins") in
Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. Consider the way stereotypes are being written out of the lore in the recent errata. Consider the changes in the artwork in just the last 10 years alone. The myriad discussions about "race in D&D," "alignment in D&D," "stereotypes in D&D," etc., on this forum alone are evidence that changes are being made, they aren't being made in a vacuum, and those changes are visible and meaningful enough to generate a reaction among consumers.
But are they
good reactions?
Well, to get an idea of
that, to measure how we the consumers feel about these changes that are being made, we can look at the sales and financial reports over the past few years (
1)(
2)(
3), or the Google/Amazon search histories, etc. The graphs are all up and to the right, so it's safe to say that the consumer base is happy with the way things are going. Which suggests that Wizards of the Coast is on the right track.