[30] Lex Salica, xxx. 4, 5, 2; Hessel’s edition, col. 181 sqq.
[31] Ibid. xv. col. 91 sqq.
[32] Ibid. lxvii. 2, col. 403.
[33] Laws of Hlothhaere and Eadric, 11.
[34] Pollock and Maitland, History of English Law till the Time of Edward I. ii. 537.
[35] Ibid. ii. 538. Stephen, History of the Criminal Law of England, ii. 409.
[36] Pollock and Maitland, op. cit. ii. 539.
The condemnation of an insult is greatly influenced by the status of, or the relations between, the parties concerned. Among the Goajiro Indians of Colombia a poor man may be insulted with impunity, when the same treatment to a rich man would cause certain bloodshed.[37] In Nias an affront is punished with a fine, which varies according to the rank of the parties.[38] The Chinese penal code lays down that a person who is guilty of addressing abusive language to his or her father or mother, or father’s parents, or a wife who rails at her husband’s parents or grandparents, shall be strangled;[39] and the same punishment is prescribed for a slave who abuses his master.[40] According to the Laws of Manu, a Kshatriya shall be fined one hundred panas for defaming a Brâhmana, a Vaisya shall be fined one hundred and fifty or two hundred panas, and a Sûdra shall suffer corporal punishment; whereas a Brâhmana shall pay only fifty panas for defaming a Kshatriya, twenty-five for defaming a Vaisya, and twelve for defaming a Sûdra.[41] In ancient Teutonic law the fines for insulting behaviour were graduated according to the rank of the person offended.[42] The starting-point of the Roman law was that an injuria—which was pre-eminently an affront to the dignity of the person—could not be done to a slave as such, only to the master through the medium of his slave;[43] and even in later times, in the case of trifling injuries, such as mere verbal insults, the master had no action, unless by leave of the Praetor, or unless the insult were meant for the master himself.[44] These and similar variations spring from the same causes as do corresponding variations in the case of other injuries dealt with above. But there are also special reasons why social superiority or inferiority influences moral opinions concerning offences against persons self-regarding pride. The respect due to a man is closely connected with his station, and in the case of defamation the injury suffered by the loss of honour or reputation is naturally proportionate to the esteem in which the offended party is held. At the same time the harmfulness of an insult also depends upon the reputation of the person who offers it. According to the Gotlands Lag, one of the ancient provincial laws of Sweden, a slave can not only be insulted with impunity, but has himself to pay no fine for insulting another person[45]—obviously because he was too degraded a being to be able to detract from anybody’s honour or good name.
[37] Simons, ‘Exploration of the Goajira Peninsula,’ in Proceed. Roy. Geo. Soc. N.S. vii. 786.
[38] von Rosenberg, Der malayische Archipel, p. 167.