Gif hwa heonan-forð ænigne man ofslea ꝥ he wege sylf þa fæhðe butan he hy mid freonda fylste binnan twelf monðum forgylde be fullan were sy swa boren swa he sy. Gif hine þonne seo mægð forlæte & him foregyldan nellen þonne wille ic ꝥ eall seo mægð sy unfah. butan þam hand-dædan, gif hy him syþþan ne doð mete ne munde. Gif þonne syþþan hwilc his maga hine feormige þonne beo he scyldig ealles þæs þe he age wið þone cyning ⁊ wege þa fæhðe wið þa mægðe forþam hi hine forsocan ær. Gif þonne of þære oðre mægðe hwa wrace do on ænigum oðrum men butan on þam riht hand-dædan sy he gefah wið þone cyning ⁊ wið ealle his frynd & þolige ealles þæs þe he age. (Edmund Secular Laws, s. 1.) If any one henceforth slay any man that he himself bear the feud unless with the aid of his friends and within 12 months he compensate it with the full wer; be he born as he may be. But if his mægd forsake him and will not pay for him, then I will that all the kindred be _unfah_ [free from the feud] except the perpetrator, if afterwards they do not give him either food or mund [protection]. But if any one of his kindred feed him, then be he liable in all that he possesses to the king and bear the feud with the kindred because they had previously forsaken him. But if anyone of the other kindred take vengeance upon any other man than the real perpetrator, let him be foe to the king and to all his friends and forfeit all that he owns. Gif hwa cyrican gesece oþþe mine burh ⁊ hine man þær sece oþþe yflige þa þe ꝥ deð syn þær ylcan scyldige þe hit her beforan cwæð. (2) If any one take refuge in a church or in my burh, and one there seek him or do him evil, be those who do that liable in the same that is heretofore ordained. And ic nelle ꝥ ænig fyhtewite oþþe man-bote forgifen sy. (3) And I will not that any _fightwite_ or _manbot_ be forgiven. This relaxation of the rules as to payment of wergeld seems to leave matters very much as they were, with the one exception that for the sake of peace and to lessen the risk of ‘manifold fightings,’ a year was given to the slayer’s kindred to save his life by helping him to pay the wergeld if they chose, while if they chose to forsake him and did not harbour or help him in any way _they_ were free. The kindred of the slain in the meantime were left to pursue their feud but only upon the slayer. This of course was another instance of the partial breaking down of the ancient tribal solidarity of the kindred in favour of the principle, long before adopted in some of the Continental codes, limiting the punishment of crime to the criminal himself.