45. Ordinance of King Edgar for the hundred

moot

to make a clear grant to his wife of the lands which her kinswoman had given her, and they did so, and Thurkil then rode to St. Æthelbert's monastery, with the leave and witness of all the folk, and caused it to be set in a Christ's book.

More frequent meetings were held of the principal men of the hundred, a subdivision of the shire. In these hundred courts most of the judicial business of the people was carried on, the customary law being enforced and ordeals being ordered or carried out. Courts or moots were also held in the boroughs.

This is the ordinance how the hundred shall be held.

1. That they meet always within four weeks: and that every man do justice to another.

2. That a thief shall be pursued. If there be immediate need, let it be made known to the hundredman, and let him inform the tithingman; and let all go forth to where God may direct them to go let them do justice on the thief, as it was formerly the enactment of Edmund. And let the money value be paid to him who owns the cattle, and the rest be divided into two; half to the hundred, half to the lord, excepting men; and let the lord take possession of the men.

5. We have also ordained, if the hundred pursue a trail into another hundred, that notice be given to the hundredman, and that he go with them. If he neglect this, let him pay thirty shillings to the king.

7. In the hundred, as in any other court, we ordain that folk-right be pronounced in every suit, and that a term be fixed when it shall be fulfilled. And he who shall break that term, unless it be by his lord's decree, let him make compensation with thirty shillings, and on the day fixed fulfill that which he ought to have done before. . .

9. Let the iron that is for the threefold ordeal weigh three pounds; and for the single, one pound. . . .

And let the hundred court be attended as it was before fixed; and three times in the year let a borough court be held;

and twice a shire court, and let there be present the bishop of Hundred, the shire and the ealdorman; and there let both expound as borough, and well the law of God as the secular law.

In the hundred and shire moots guilt or innocence, or the truth or falsity of a charge, when they could not be settled by general agreement, were usually referred to some form of ordeal, carried out with religious ceremonies.

shire moots

the ordeal of

iron

If any one shall have given pledge to undergo the ordeal of 46. Rules for iron..., let him go three days beforehand to the priest, whose duty it is to bless him with the sign of the cross; and let him live upon bread, water, salt, and herbs, and hear mass each one of the three days; and let him make his offering and go to the holy communion on the day when he is to be examined by the ordeal; and before he is examined let him swear that by the law of the realm he is innocent of the charge. Concerning the ordeal we enjoin in the name of God and by the command of the archbishop and of all our bishops that no one enter the church after the fire with which the ordeal is to be heated has been brought in, except the priest and him who is to undergo judgment. And let nine feet be measured off from the stake to the mark, by the feet of him who is to be tried. . . . And when the ordeal is ready let two men from each side go in and certify that it is as hot as we have directed it to be. Then let an equal number from both sides enter and stand on either side of the judgment place along the church, and let them all be fasting. . . . And let the priest sprinkle The ordeal a them all with holy water and let them bow themselves every religious one to the holy water, and let the holy Gospel and the cross be given them all to kiss. And no one shall mend the fire any longer than the beginning of the hallowing, but let the iron lie on the coals until the last collect. Afterwards let it be placed on a frame, and let no one speak except to pray diligently to God, the Father Omnipotent, to deign to manifest his truth in the matter. And let the accused drink of the holy water, and then let the hand with which he is about to carry the iron be sprinkled, and so let him go. Let the nine feet that were

ceremony

47. The

measured off be divided into three sections. In the first division let him hold his right foot close to the stake. Then let him move his right foot across the second into the third division, where he shall cast the iron in front of him and hasten to the holy altar. Then let his hand be wrapped up, and on the third day let examination be made whether it is clean or foul within the wrapper. And whoever shall transgress these laws, be the ordeal of no worth in his case, but let him pay the king a fine of twenty shillings.

The last two selections, one from the laws of King Edgar, the other from those of King Æthelstan, will give some impression of the provisions of the Anglo-Saxon codes on special points. The following extracts from the Dooms of Alfred will give a fuller idea of their character. They were in many parts attempts to put moral law or biblical teachings into legal form; in other parts they were efforts to put the familiar customary law into more concrete shape; in still other parts they were similar to the tables of a modern accident-insurance company in their detailed provisions for the payment of fines and compensations to an injured party, in proportion to the extent of the injury.

I, then, Alfred, king, gathered these together, and comDooms of manded many of those to be written which our forefathers Alfred held, those which to me seemed good; and many of those which seemed to me not good I rejected them, by the counsel of my witan, and in other wise commanded them to be holden ; for I durst not venture to set down in writing much of my own, for it was unknown to me what of it would please those who should come after us. But those things which I met with, either of the days of Ine my kinsman, or of Offa, king of the Mercians, or of Ethelbert, who first among the English race received baptism, those which seemed to me the rightest, those I have here gathered together, and rejected the others.

I, then, Alfred, king of the West Saxons, showed these to The witan all my witan, and they then said that it seemed good to them join in issuing for all these to be holden.

the laws

At the first we teach that it is most needful that every man Punishment warily keep his oaths and his pledges. If any one be con- for perjury strained to either of these wrongfully, either to treason against his lord or to any unlawful aid, then it is juster to belie than to fulfill. But if he pledge himself to that which is lawful to fulfill, and in that belie himself, let him submissively deliver up his weapon and his goods to the keeping of his friends, and be in prison forty days in a king's town: let him there suffer whatever the bishop may prescribe to him; and let his kinsmen feed him, if he himself have no food.

If any plot against the king's life, of himself, or by harboring exiles, or by his men, let him be liable in his life and in all that he has. . . .

We also ordain to every church that has been hallowed by a bishop this right of peace, if a man in a feud flee to or reach one, that for seven days no one drag him out. . . . He who steals on Sunday or at Christmas or at Easter or on Holy Thursday or on Rogation days, for each of these we will that the fine be twofold, as during the Lenten fast.

...

If any one fight in the king's hall, or draw his weapon, and he be taken, be it in the king's doom, either death or life, as he may be willing to grant him. If he escape, and be taken again, let him pay for himself according to the value of his life. . . .

If a man strike out another's tooth in the front of his head, Compensalet him make compensation for it with eight shillings; if it be tions for the eyetooth, let four shillings be paid as compensation. A

man's grinder is worth fifteen shillings. .

...

A man's chin bone, if it be cloven, let twelve shillings be

paid as compensation. . .

If a man be wounded on the shoulder so that the joint-oil flow out, let compensation be made with thirty shillings.

If the arm be broken above the elbow, there shall be fifteen shillings as compensation.

If the forearm be broken, the compensation is thirty shillings.

injuries

If the thumb be struck off, for that shall be thirty shillings as compensation.

If the nail be struck off, for that shall be five shillings as compensation.

If the shooting finger be struck off, the compensation is fifteen shillings; for its nail it is four shillings.

If the middlemost finger be struck off, the compensation is twelve shillings; and its nail is' two shillings.

...

If a man's thigh be pierced, let thirty shillings be paid him as compensation; if it be broken, the compensation is likewise thirty shillings.

If the great toe be struck off, let thirty shillings be paid him as compensation; if it be the second toe, let fifteen shillings be paid. . . .

He who smiteth his father or his mother shall perish by death.

He who stealeth a freeman and selleth him and it be proved against him so that he cannot clear himself, let him perish by death.

If a thief break into a man's house by night and he be then slain, the slayer shall not be guilty of manslaughter. But if he do this after sunrise he shall be guilty of manslaughter, and then he himself shall die, unless he were an unwilling agent.

Swear ye never by heathen gods, nor cry ye unto them for any cause.