Tribal Custom in Anglo-Saxon Law: Being an Essay Supplemental to (1) 'The English Village Community', (2) 'The Tribal System in Wales'Seebohm, Frederic
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Tribal Custom in Anglo-Saxon Law: Being an Essay Supplemental to (1) 'The English Village Community', (2) 'The Tribal System in Wales'
Seebohm, Frederic
Anglo-Saxons; Law, Anglo-Saxon; Law, Medieval; Tribes -- Great Britain
We now come to a set of clauses in which the differences between the
three districts again appear, and in one of which, viz. again the
district between the Laubach and the Weser, we meet with values stated in
_silver solidi_ of 20 to the pound, _i.e._ of twelve pence.
[Sidenote: Methods of compurgation and ordeal.]
These clauses are interesting as illustrating Frisian methods of
compurgation, the ordeal of the lot and of hot water, and trial by
battle, all of which evidently belong to ancient tribal custom.
Title XIV. relates to the slaying of a man in a crowd, and describes the
means taken to ascertain whose deed it was. Each division had its own
custom. That of the _Middle district_ is first described:--
The relative of the slain may summon seven men and charge each
of them with the crime, and each is then put upon his oath with
eleven co-swearers. Then they are to go to the church, and lots
are to be cast upon the altar, or if the church be too far off
the lots are to be cast upon relics.
The lots are to be two pieces (tali) cut from a rod and called
_teni_, on one only of which is the sign of the cross, the other
being left blank. A clean cloth is to be spread over the altar
or the relics, and then the priest (or if none, an innocent boy)
ought to take one of the lots from the altar and pray God to show
by some evident sign whether those seven who have sworn have
sworn truly. If he takes up the lot marked with the cross, then
those who have sworn were innocent. But if he takes up the other,
then each one of the seven makes his own lot, from a rod, and
marks his own sign on it, and so that both he and those standing
by can recognise it. And the lots shall be wrapped up in clean
cloth and laid upon the altar or relics, and the priest, if he be
there, and if not the innocent boy, as above, shall take up each
of them one by one from the altar, and shall ask him who knows
it to be his own lot. And he whose lot happens to be last shall
be compelled to pay the composition for the homicide. The rest,
whose lots have already been taken up, are absolved.
But if, in the first trial of the two lots, he takes up the one
marked with the cross, the seven shall be innocent, as aforesaid,
and he (the accuser), if he wishes, shall summon others for the
same homicide, and whoever may be summoned ought to clear himself
by complete oath with 11 co-swearers. And this shall be enough
for the accuser, nor can he bring any one further to the lot.
This law prevailed between the Laubach and the Fli. But between the Fli
and the Sincfal for a case of this kind the following was the custom:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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