[56] This was Cloderic, son of Sigibert the Lame, king of a tribe of Franks living along the middle Rhine. Sigibert was one of the numerous independent and rival princes whom Clovis used every expedient to put out of the way. [57] Along the Upper Weser, near the monastery of Fulda. [58] Ragnachar's kingdom was in the region about Cambrai. [59] The _mallus_ was the local court held about every six weeks in each community or hundred. In early German law the state has small place and the principle of self-help by the individual is very prominent. To bring a suit one summons his opponent himself and gets him to appear at court if he can. Ordinarily the court merely determines the method by which the guilt or innocence of the accused may be tested. Execution of the sentence rests again with the plaintiff, or with his family or clan group. [60] "The monetary system of the Salic law was taken from the Romans. The basis was the gold _solidus_ of Constantine, 1/72 of a pound of gold. The small coin was the silver _denarius_, forty of which made a _solidus_. This system was adopted as a monetary reform by Clovis, and the statement of the sum in terms of both coins is probably due to the newness of the system at the time of the appearance of the law."--Thatcher and McNeal, _Source Book for Mediaeval History_, p. 17. The gold _solidus_ was worth somewhere from two and a half to three dollars, but its purchasing power was perhaps equal to that of twenty dollars to-day, because gold and silver were then so much scarcer and more valuable. Such estimates of purchasing power, however, involve so great uncertainty as to be practically worthless. [61] The Burgundian law (Chap. 41) contained a provision that if a man made a fire on his own premises and it spread to fences or crops belonging to another person, and did damage, the man who made the fire should recompense his neighbor for his loss, provided it could be shown that there was no wind to drive the fire beyond control. If there was such a wind, no penalty was to be exacted. [62] The law of the Lombards had a more elaborate system of fines for wounds than did the Salic code. For example, knocking out a man's front teeth was to be paid for at the rate of sixteen _solidi_ per tooth; knocking out back teeth at the rate of eight _solidi_ per tooth; fracturing an arm, sixteen _solidi_; cutting off a second finger, seventeen _solidi_; cutting off a great toe, six _solidi_; cutting off a little toe, two _solidi_; giving a blow with the fist, three _solidi_; with the palm of the hand, six _solidi_; and striking a person on the head so as to break bones, twelve _solidi_ per bone. In the latter case the broken bones were to be counted "on this principle, that one bone shall be found large enough to make an audible sound when thrown against a shield at twelve feet distance on the road; the said feet to be measured from the foot of a man of moderate stature."