highest class, let him pay 80 shillings; of the second class, let him pay 60 shillings; of the third class, let him pay 40 shillings.
If a freeman commit edor breach [breaking through the fenced enclosure and forcibly entering a ceorl's dwelling], let him make bot with 6 shillings.
If any one take property from a dwelling, let him pay a three-fold bot.
If a freeman goes with hostile intent through an edor [the fence enclosing a dwelling], let him make bot with 4 shillings.
If [in so doing] a man slay another, let him pay with his own money, and with any sound property whatever.
If a freeman lie with a freeman's wife, let him pay for it with his wer geld, and obtain another wife with his own money, and bring her to the other [man's dwelling].
If any one thrusts through the riht ham scyld [legal means of protecting one's home], let him adequately compensate.
If there be feax fang [seizing someone by the hair], let there be 50 sceatts for bot.
If there be an exposure of the bone, let bot be made with 3 shillings.
If there be an injury to the bone, let bot be made with 4 shillings.
If the outer hion [outer membrane covering the brain] be broken, let bot be made with 10 shillings.
If it be both [outer and inner membranes covering the brain], let bot be made with 20 shillings.
If a shoulder be lamed, let bot be made with 30 shillings.
If an ear be struck off, let bot be made with 12 shillings.
If the other ear hear not, let bot be made with 25 shillings.
If an ear be pierced, let bot be made with 3 shillings.
If an ear be mutilated, let bot be made with 6 shillings.
If an eye be [struck] out, let bot be made with 50 shillings.
If the mouth or an eye be injured, let bot be made with 12 shillings.
If the nose be pierced, let bot be made with 9 shillings.
If it be one ala, let bot be made with 3 shillings.
If both be pierced, let bot be made with 6 shillings.
If the nose be otherwise mutilated, for each [cut, let] bot be made with 6 shillings.
If it be pierced, let bot be made with 6 shillings.
Let him who breaks the jaw bone pay for it with 20 shillings.
For each of the four front teeth, 6 shillings; for the tooth which stands next to them 4 shillings; for that which stands next to that, 3 shillings; and then afterwards, for each a shilling.
If the speech be injured, 12 shillings. If the collar bone be broken, let bot be made with 6 shillings.
Let him who stabs [another] through an arm, make bot with 6 shillings. If an arm be broken, let him make bot with 6 shillings.
If a thumb be struck off, 20 shillings. If a thumb nail be off, let bot be made with 3 shillings. If the shooting [fore] finger be struck off, let bot be made with 8 shillings. If the middle finger be struck off, let bot be made with 4 shillings. If the gold [ring] finger be struck off, let bot be made with 6 shillings. If the little finger be struck off, let bot be made with 11 shillings.
For every nail, a shilling.
For the smallest disfigurement of the face, 3 shillings; and for the greater, 6 shillings.
If any one strike another with his fist on the nose, 3 shillings.
If there be a bruise [on the nose], a shilling; if he receive a right hand bruise [from protecting his face with his arm], let him [the striker] pay a shilling.
If the bruise [on the arm] be black in a part not covered by the clothes, let bot be made with 30 scaetts.
If it be covered by the clothes, let bot for each be made with 20 scaetts.
If the belly be wounded, let bot be made with 12 shillings; if it be pierced through, let bot be made with 20 shillings.
If any one be gegemed [pregnant], let bot be made with 30 shillings.
If any one be cear wund [badly wounded], let bot be made with 3 shillings.
If any one destroy [another's] organ of generation [penis], let him pay him with 3 leod gelds: if he pierce it through, let him make bot with 6 shillings; if it be pierced within, let him make bot with 6 shillings.
If a thigh be broken, let bot be made with 12 shillings; if the man become halt [lame], then friends must arbitrate.
If a rib be broken, let bot be made with 3 shillings.
If [the skin of] a thigh be pierced through, for each stab 6 shillings; if [the wound be] above an inch [deep], a shilling; for two inches, 2; above three, 3 shillings.
If a sinew be wounded, let bot be made with 3 shillings.
If a foot be cut off, let 50 shillings be paid.
If a great toe be cut off, let 10 shillings be paid.
For each of the other toes, let one half that for the corresponding finger be paid.
If the nail of a great toe be cut off, 30 scaetts for bot; for each of the others, make bot with 10 scaetts.
If a freewoman loc bore [with long hair] commit any leswe [evil deed], let her make a bot of 30 shillings.
Let maiden bot [compensation for injury to an unmarried woman] be as that of a freeman.
For [breach of] the mund [protection] of a widow of the best class, of an eorl's degree, let the bot be 50 shillings; of the second, 20 shillings; of the third, 12 shillings; of the fourth, 6 shillings.
If a man carry off a widow not under his own protection by right, let the mund be twofold.
If a man buy a maiden with cattle, let the bargain stand, if it be without fraud; but if there be fraud, let him bring her home again, and let his property be restored to him.
If she bear a live child, she shall have half the property, if the husband die first.
If she wish to go away with her children, she shall have half the property.
If the husband wish to keep them [the children], [she shall have the same portion] as one child.
If she bear no child, her paternal kindred shall have the fioh [her money and chattels] and the morgen gyfe [morning gift: a gift made to the bride by her husband on the morning following the consummation of the marriage].
If a man carry off a maiden by force, let him pay 50 shillings to the owner, and afterwards buy [the object of] his will from the owner.
If she be betrothed to another man in money [at a bride price], let him [who carried her off] make bot with 20 shillings.
If she become gaengang [pregnant], 35 shillings; and 15 shillings to the King.
If a man lie with an esne's wife, her husband still living, let him make twofold bot.
If one esne slay another unoffending, let him pay for him at his full worth.
If an esne's eye and foot be struck out or off, let him be paid for at his full worth.
If any one bind another man's esne, let him make bot with 6 shillings.
Let [compensation for] weg reaf [highway robbery] of a theow [slave] be 3 shillings.
If a theow steal, let him make twofold bot [twice the value of the stolen goods]."
Judicial Procedure
The King and his freemen would hear and decide cases of wrongful behavior such as breach of the peace. Punishment would be given to the offender by the community.
There were occasional meetings of "hundreds", which were 100 households, to settle widespread disputes. The chief officer was "hundreder" or "constable". He was responsible for keeping the peace of the hundred.
The Druid priests decided all disputes of the Celts.
Chapter 2
The Times: 600-900
The country was inhabited by Anglo-Saxons. The French called it "Angleterre", which means the angle or end of the earth. It was called "Angle land", which later became "England".
A community was usually an extended family. Its members lived a village in which a stone church was the most prominent building. They lived in one-room huts with walls and roofs made of wood,
