ꝥ te ryht æw ⁊ ryhte cyne-domas þurh ure folc gefæstnode ⁊ getrymede wæron, ꝥ te nænig ealdormonna ne us under-geþeodedra æfter þam wære awendende þas ure domas.
So that just law and just kingly dooms might be settled and established throughout our folk; so that none of the ealdormen nor of our subjects should hereafter pervert these our dooms.
The ealdorman a shire-man in judicial position.
We mark, then, at once that at this period the most prominent public official was the ealdorman. From clause 8 and clause 9 we learn that private revenge for a wrong was forbidden before justice had been demanded from a ‘“scir-man” or other judge.’ And that the ealdorman was a shire-man we learn from another clause (clause 36).
Seþe þeof gefehð oþþe him mon gefongenne agifð ⁊ he hine þonne alæte oþþe þa þiefðe gedierne forgielde þone þeof [be] his were.
(36) Let him who takes a thief or to whom one taken is given, and then lets him go, or conceals the theft, pay for the thief according to his wer.
Gif he ealdormon sie þolie his scire buton him kyning arian wille.
If he be an ealdorman let him forfeit his ‘shire’ unless the King be merciful to him.
Here, as in Alfred’s Laws, the ealdorman is an official with judicial jurisdiction. And we learn more about his social status as compared with that of other classes from s. 45.