[12]. For instance, Exodus xxi. 23, 24, 25.
[13]. See E. Westermarck, Moral Ideas, vol. i. p. 178. London, 1906.
[14]. At first it was not always necessary to accept the blood-fine. See E. W. Robertson, Scotland under her Early Kings, p. 287, Edinburgh, 1862, on this point; and as to the treatment of female relatives, see J. Thrupp, Anglo-Saxon Home, p. 151.
[15]. In the seventh century a law of Ine ordained that “If any one takes revenge before he demands justice, let him give up what he has taken to himself and pay the damage done and make bōt with xxx. shillings.”—Thorpe, Ancient Laws and Institutions, fol. ed. p. 48.
[16]. “The penal law of ancient communities is not a law of crimes; it is a law of wrongs, or, to use the English technical word, of torts. The person injured proceeds against the wrongdoer by an ordinary civil action, and recovers compensation in the shape of money damages if he succeeds.”—Maine, Ancient Law, p. 379.
[17]. “It is curious to observe how little the men of primitive times were troubled with these scruples (as to the degree of moral guilt to be ascribed to the wrongdoer), how completely they were persuaded that the impulses of the wronged person were the proper measure of the vengeance he was entitled to exact, and how literally they imitated the rise and fall of his passions in fixing their scale of punishment.”—Maine, Ancient Law, p. 389.
[18]. “Every man’s life had its value, and according to that valuation the value of his oath in a court of justice varied, and offences against his person and protection were atoned for.”—Stubbs, Const. Hist. i. p. 188.
[19]. A front tooth usually cost six shillings; in Alfred’s time, eight.
[20]. Laws of Æthelbert. If a freeman rob the king let him pay a forfeiture ninefold. If a freeman rob a freeman let him make threefold satisfaction.—J. Johnson, Ecc. Laws.
[21]. For a collection of the various codes and for examples of their amazing minuteness as to all possible injuries, see F. Lindenbrog, Codex legum antiquarum, pp. 474, 498, etc. Frankfort, 1613.