There is a passage in the writings of King Alfred (Kemble, ii. 209) which brings out into remarkable clearness the struggle of the various ideas that prevailed in his day as to the origin of criminal jurisdiction. It will be seen that Alfred attributes it partly to the authority of the Church and partly to that of the Witan, while he expressly claims for treason against the lord the same immunity from ordinary rules which the Roman Law of Majestas had assigned to treason against the Caesar. "After this it happened," he writes, "that many nations received the faith of Christ, and there were many synods assembled throughout the earth, and among the English race also after they had received the faith of Christ, both of holy bishops and of their exalted Witan. They then ordained that, out of that mercy which Christ had taught, secular lords, with their leave, might without sin take for every misdeed the _bot_ in money which they ordained; except in cases of treason against a lord, to which they dared not assign any mercy because Almighty God adjudged none to them that despised Him, nor did Christ adjudge any to them which sold Him to death; and He commanded that a lord should be loved like Himself." INDEX Austin, 69, 171; _Province of Jurisprudence Determined_, 4 Ayala, 64 Bentham, 18, 46, 54, 70, 147; _Fragment on Government_, 4 Blackstone, 67, 89, 150, 152 _Cambridge Essays_, 1856, Maine, 205, 212 Capture in war, 145, 146 Casuistry, 205, 206, 207 Charlemagne, 62, 233 Codes, Attic of Solon, 9; era of, 8; first introduced into the West, 10; Hindoo Law of Menu, 10-12; Justinian, 25, 27; Napoleon, 104; Roman, superiority over Hindoo, 10-12; Twelve Tables of Rome, 1, 8, 9, 12, 20 Contract, Austin on, 190; Bentham on, 190; Imperative Law, 182; judicial and popular error, 181; Law of Nations, 181, 196, 197; literal or written, 194; origin lies in the family, 99; pact or convention, 184, 185; real, 195; Roman, classification, 191, 192; consensual, 195-198; Domestic System, 194; Nexum, definition of, 185-189; Rousseau, 181; sale, 188 Conveyances and contracts, confusion between, 185-187; and mancipation, 185 _Corpus juris civilis_, 26 Creditors, powers of, in ancient system, 189 Crimes and wrongs, confusion between, 231, 232; distinction between primitive and modern, 217, 218; Kemble in _Anglo-Saxons_, 218 Criminal Law, Athens, 224; degree of guilt, 223; four stages of primitive history, 226; influence of Church, 233; primitive religious code, 218, 219; Roman, crime against State, 219; B.C. 149, 225; origin of, 225; sentence of death, 227-229; theft, 222, 223; tribunals, 228-230; under emperors, 230-232 Customary Law, epoch of, 7, 8; Hindoo, 4 Dangers of Law, rigidity, too rapid development, 44, 45 Debtors, severity of ancient system, 189