Gif hio bearn ne gebyreþ fæderingmagas fioh agan ⁊ morgengyfe. 81. If she bear no child, let [her] paternal kindred have the property and morgengift. It is obvious from these clauses that under Kentish custom the position of the wife was very much the same as under Cymric and continental German custom. The marriage was a fair contract between the two kindreds. The next clause enjoins a payment of fifty shillings to the ‘owner’ of a maiden if she be carried off by force. [Sidenote: The Kentish esne.] Lastly there are the following clauses relating to the position of the esne under Kentish custom. The esne is considered to be a ‘servus’ working for hire rather than a theow. Gif man mid esnes cwynan geligeþ be cwicum ceorle ii gebete. 85. If a man lies with an esne’s wife, the husband alive, double bot. Gif esne oþerne ofslea unsynnigne, ealne weorðe forgelde. 86. If one esne kills another innocently, let the full worth be paid for. Gif esnes eage ⁊ foot of weorðeþ aslagen ealne weorðe hine forgelde. 87. If an esne’s eye and foot are struck out or off, let the full worth be paid for it. Gif man mannes esne gebindeþ vi scll gebete. 88. If a man bind a man’s esne, vi scillings bot. There is nothing in these clauses, I think, to show that the bot was payable to any one but the owner of the esne. What the ‘full worth’ of the esne was we are not told. IV. THE LAWS OF HLOTHÆRE AND EADRIC, A.D. 685-6. Between the date of the Laws of Ethelbert and those of other Kentish kings which have been preserved nearly a century had intervened. So that these later laws of Kent are nearly contemporary with King Ine’s Dooms of Wessex. [Sidenote: Eorlcund and ceorlisc classes.] As in Ethelbert’s laws, the main division of classes of freemen seems still to have been that between eorlcund and ceorlisc. But we get further valuable information. The Laws of Hlothære and Eadric open with clauses which seem to fix the wergeld of the eorl at three times that of the ordinary freeman. [Sidenote: The owner’s liability for an esne’s homicides.] They deal with the liability of an owner of an _esne_[307] for his servant’s homicides. [Sidenote: If an esne slay an eorl.] Gif mannes esne eorlcundne mannan ofslæhð. þane þe sio þreom hundum scill gylde se agend þone banan agefe ⁊ do þær þrio manwyrð to. 1. If any one’s esne slay an _eorlcund_ man, one that is paid for with three hundred scillings, let the owner give up the slayer, and add _three manwyrths_ thereto. Gif se bana oðbyrste feorðe manwyrð he to-gedo ⁊ hine gecænne mid godum æwdum ꝥ he þane banan begeten ne mihte. 2. If the slayer escape, let him add a fourth _manwyrth_ and let him prove with good compurgators that he could not catch the slayer. The next two clauses are as follows:-- [Sidenote: If he slay a freeman.]