[82] Maclean, Compendium of Kafir Laws and Customs, p. 144. Casalis, Basutos, p. 225. Ellis, Tshi-speaking Peoples of the Gold Coast, p. 301. Munzinger, Ostafrikanische Studien, pp. 242 sq. (Marea), 314 (Beni Amer). Forbes, A Naturalist’s Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago, p. 145 (Lampongers of Sumatra). Modigliani, Viaggio a Nías, p. 494. Richardson, Arctic Searching Expedition, i. 386 (Kutchin). Gibbs, loc. cit. p. 190 (Indians of Western Washington and North-western Oregon). Paget, Hungary and Transylvania, ii. 411 n. (Hungarians).
[83] Crawfurd, History of the Indian Archipelago, iii. 112.
[84] von Haxthausen, Transcaucasia, p. 409. Kovalewsky, Coutume contemporaine, p. 355 sqq.
[85] Rockhill, Land of the Lamas, p. 221.
[86] Hardy, Manual of Budhism, p. 478.
[87] Innes, Scotland in the Middle Ages, p. 180 sq.
[88] Ancient Laws of Ireland, iii. 103, &c. Skene, Celtic Scotland, iii. 152. de Valroger, Les Celtes, p. 471.
[89] Grimm, Deutsche Rechtsalterthümer, pp. 272-275, 289. Brunner, Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte, i. 104, 105, 107, 108, 224, 247 sqq. Kemble, Saxons in England, i. 276 sqq.
[90] Leges Henrici I. lxx. 1; lxxvi. 4. Cf. Laws of William the Conqueror, i. 8.
The magnitude of the crime, however, may depend not only on the rank of the victim, but on the rank of the manslayer as well.[91] Among the Philippine Islanders, “murder committed by a slave was punished with death—committed by a person of rank, was indemnified by payments to the injured family.”[92] In Fijian estimation, says Mr. Williams, offences “are light or grave according to the rank of the offender. Murder by a chief is less heinous than a petty larceny committed by a man of low rank.”[93] Among the Ew̔e-speaking peoples of the Slave Coast, “in cases of murder and manslaughter, if the homicide be of rank superior to the person killed, he pays the compensation demanded by the family of the latter, or, in default of payment, forfeits his own life. If the homicide be of equal rank with the person killed, the family of the deceased have the right to demand his life, though compensation is usually accepted; but when he is lower in rank his life is nearly always forfeited.”[94] Very similar rules prevail among the Tshi-speaking peoples of the Gold Coast.[95] Among the Marea, if a nobleman kills another nobleman, the family of the deceased generally take revenge on him; whereas, if a commoner kills a nobleman, he is not only executed himself, but his property is confiscated and his nearest relatives become subject to the murdered man’s family.[96] According to the religious law of Brahmanism, the enormity of all crimes depends on the caste of him who commits them, and on the caste of him against whom they are committed.[97] If a Brâhmana slays a Brâhmana, the king shall brand him on the forehead with a heated iron and banish him from his realm, but if a man of a lower caste murders a Brâhmana, he shall be punished with death and the confiscation of all his property.[98] If such a person slays a man of equal or lower caste, other suitable punishments shall be inflicted upon him.[99] A fine of a thousand cows is the penalty for slaying a Kshatriya, that of a hundred for slaying a Vaisya, and that of ten cows only for slaying a Sûdra.[100] In Rome, also, at a certain period of its history, the offence was magnified in proportion to the insignificance of the offender. During the Republic there was no law sanctioning such a distinction, with reference to crimes committed by free citizens; but from the beginning of the Empire, the citizens were divided into privileged classes and commonalty—uterque ordo and plebs—and, whilst a commoner who was guilty of murder was punished with death, a murderer belonging to the privileged classes was generally punished with deportatio only.[101] In the Middle Ages a similar privilege was granted by Italian and Spanish laws to manslayers of noble birth.[102]