At the beginning of his reign he held, in Austrasia and Burgundy, a sort of administrative and judicial inspection, halting at the principal towns, listening to complaints, and checking, sometimes with a rigor arbitrary indeed, but approved of by the people, the violence and irregularities of the grandees.

At Langres, Dijon, St.Jean-de, Losne, Chalons-sur-Saline, Auxerre, Autun, and Sens, "he rendered justice," says Fredegaire, "to rich and poor alike, without any charges, and without any respect of persons, taking little sleep and little food, caring only so to act that all should withdraw from his presence full of joy and admiration." Nor did he confine himself to this unceremonious exercise of the royal authority.

Some of his predecessors, and amongst them Childebert I., Clotaire I., and Clotaire II., had caused to be drawn up, in Latin and by scholars, digests more or less complete of the laws and customs handed down by tradition, amongst certain of the Germanic peoples established on Roman soil, notably the laws of the Salian Franks and Ripuarian Franks; and Dagobert ordered a continuation of these first legislative labors amongst the newborn nations.

It was, apparently, in his reign that a digest was made of the laws of the Allemannians and Bavarians.

He had also some taste for the arts, and the pious talents displayed by Saints Eloi and Ouen in goldsmith's-work and sculpture, applied to the service of religion or the decoration of churches, received from him the support of the royal favor and munificence.