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
The safer course may be, therefore, to treat them, not as a consistent
and single set of canons, but as _excerpta_ from various sources.
[Sidenote: The clauses as to homicide.]
Following the eighth-century MS. as most likely to be correct in its
text, the _excerpta_ relating to homicide are these:--
C. 1. Si quis homicidium ex intentione commiserit, ancillas III.
et servos III. reddat et securitatem accipiat.
Canon 1. If any one by intention shall have committed homicide,
let him pay three ancillæ and three servi and acquire safety.
C. 2. Si quis judicio fuerit competitus et præstando verum durus
esse voluerit et ipsam intentionem fuerit interfectus, ancillas
II. et servos II. reddi debere præcipimus. Quodsi manum aut pedem
vel quemlibet membrum perdiderit similiter duas partes prætii se
noverit accepturum.
Canon 2. If any one, being brought to justice, tries to resist
the arrest and is slain in the attempt, we declare that two
ancillæ and two servi shall be given for him, but if he loses a
hand or a foot or any limb let him likewise know that he shall
accept two thirds of the price.
C. 3. Si quis homicidii causa fuerit suspicatus et non ei titulus
comprobandi, XL. et VIII. viris nominatis, ex quibus XXIV. in
ecclesia jurent eum esse veracem, sic sine causa discedat. Quodsi
non juraverit, ancillas III. et servos III. reddat et securitatem
accipiat.
Canon 3. If any one shall be suspected of homicide, but there
are not means of proof (‘titulus comprobandi’), 48 men having
been named, of whom 24 shall swear in a church that he is right
(‘verax’), so he shall depart innocent (‘sine causa’); but if
he [they?] shall not have sworn he shall pay _three ancillæ and
three servi_ and be free.
C. 4. Si servus ingenuum occiderit et culpa ingenui fuerit
hoc, de fuste aut dextrali aut dubio aut de cultello fuerit
interemptus, ipse homicida parentibus tradatur, et quidquid
faciendi voluerint habeant potestatem.
Canon 4. If a slave shall kill a freeman and it shall be the
fault of the freeman, and he shall have been slain by a cudgel,
or a hatchet, or a … or a knife, the homicide himself shall be
handed over to the parentes and they shall have power to do what
they like with him.
C. 5. Si quis dominus servum arma portare permiserit et ingenuum
hominem occiderit, ipsum et alium juxta se noverit rediturum.
Canon 5. If any master permits his slave to carry arms and he
kills a freeman, let him know that he must hand over the slave
himself and another likewise.
C. 6. Si quis ingenuus servum alterius sine culpa occiderit,
servos duos domino. Quod si culpa fuerit servi alius, alius
servus domino reformetur.
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