The _burg_-bryce is the same thing as the _burh_-bryce--the breaking into the _burh_. And if we compare the ‘bots’ of this clause with the _burh_-bryce of King Alfred’s s. 40 (_supra_, p. 372) we see that he was not merely copying King Ine’s clause. Nearly as they may resemble one another, there are marked differences between the two clauses. The king’s burh-bryce in King Ine’s Laws is the same as King Alfred’s. The ealdorman’s is eighty scillings instead of sixty. The king’s thane takes the ealdorman’s place with sixty, and the gesithcund-man’s burh-bryce in King Ine’s Laws is practically the same as the twelve-hyndeman’s in King Alfred’s laws. [Sidenote: The gesithcund-man’s judicial position.] The gesithcund-man we have met before in one of the fragments of early English law, but so far as relates to Wessex he appears in the Dooms of Ine for the first and last time, and we shall have to consider by-and-by how far he is the same person as the twelve-hyndeman. But for the present it is sufficient to note that he is mentioned along with the king’s thane and the ealdorman apparently in order to state the extent to which his oath was to be taken as valid in judicial evidence, or whatever is meant by the words ‘and according to this make legal denial.’ [Sidenote: Laws as to theft.] The chief obstacle to the maintenance of the peace seems to have been the frequency of thefts and homicide of all kinds. The connection between homicide and theft is the subject of several clauses in the Laws of Ine. And as they bring into notice the liability of the kindred it may be well to consider them in order. These are some of the clauses in the Laws of King Ine with reference to the slaying of a thief:-- Gif þeof sie gefongen swelte he deaðe oþþe his lif be his were man aliese. (12) If a thief be seized let him perish by death or let his life be redeemed according to his wer. Cierlisc mon gif he oft betygen wære gif he æt siþestan sie gefongen slea mon hond [of] oþþe fot. (18) A ceorlisc man, if he have often been accused, if he at last be seized, let his hand or foot be cut off. Gif feorcund mon oþþe fremde butan wege geond wudu gonge & ne hrieme ne horn blawe, for þeof he bið to profianne oþþe to sleanne oþþe to aliesanne. (20) If a far-coming man or a stranger journey through a wood out of the highway and neither shout nor blow his horn he is to be held for a thief either to be slain or redeemed. [Sidenote: The ge-geldas and kindred of the thief.]