Like zdsmith, I like these systems mainly because they are "beautiful to use and to contemplate."
I think their aesthetics add a special functional value when used in highly personal writings however -- journals, for example. Marc Drogin writes the following about the evolution of "charter hands" such as Luxeuil Miniscule (pictured above):
"However, when it came to the creation of a script in which to write legal documents a special quality was required. A good charter hand or court hand was so ornate that one viewed it with awe, and so complicated that it not only resisted forgery but could not be understood by those who had no business reading it."
He continues, "Sometimes this succeeded too well..."