The price of all kinds of wounds was likewise fixed by the English law: a wound of an inch long under the hair was paid with one shilling; one of a like size in the face, with two shillings; thirty shillings were the compensation for the loss of an ear; and so forth. There seems not to have been any difference made according to the dignity of the person. By the laws of Ethelbert, any one who committed adultery with his neighbour's wife was obliged to pay him a fine, and buy him another wife.
The court of the nation was known as the witena-gemot, or assembly of the wise men. Originally, no doubt, it was a far more popular institution than it became in later times. In theory every freeman was entitled to be present; but it was gradually confined to a small body of men, and the average number of those who attended it was about thirty. They consisted of royal officials and heads of the church, the bishops, aldermen, and personal attendants of the king spoken of in the laws and chronicles as ministri. Such a body, although it had in theory great powers, was, as Bishop Stubbs points out, practically very much under the control of a strong king.
Its powers were as follows:
(1) All laws, whether national or ecclesiastical, were made with its counsel and consent.
(2) It supervised grants of land, especially the conversion of folkland into bookland.
(3) It was a court of justice in the last resort.
(4) It laid on especial taxes, such as the Danegeld.
(5) It discussed questions of foreign policy.
(6) It elected the aldermen in conjunction with the king, and the bishops in the more important sees. Bishops were, as a rule, however, elected by the clergy.
(7) It could elect and depose kings. Deposition was frequent in some kingdoms, notably in turbulent Northumbria. As to election, "the choice," says Bishop Stubbs, "was limited to the best qualified person standing in close connection to the last sovereign."