Little Arthur's history of England

by Lady Maria Callcott

And because these clergymen did so much good, the kings and the people gave them money, and some land fit for corn-fields and gardens, that they might have plenty for themselves, and the schoolboys, and the poor.

CHAPTER VIII.
How the Angles and Saxons loved freedom, but made laws to punish those who did wrong.

I am sure you wish to hear something more about the Angles and Saxons, now that I have told you that they had become Christians like the Britons, and had left off fighting with them.

There was one thing that, they loved above all others, and that was freedom; that is, they liked that every man should do what he pleased as long as he did not hurt any body else. And they liked that when a man went into his own house and shut the door he should be safe, and that nobody should go into his house without his leave. Besides that, they liked wicked people to be punished; but if a man killed another, on purpose, they did not always kill him too, as we do, for fear he should do more mischief; they only made him give money to the relations of the man he had killed, or perhaps they put him in prison for a little while, to teach him to be more careful. And the Saxons and Angles liked that when a thief stole anything, he should be made to give it back, and that he should be punished.

Rules like these are called laws, and they are needful, to keep men from doing wrong. All laws are meant to do good; and the Saxons and Angles would not let anybody be punished without taking time to find out what was right, as it would not be right to let anybody who saw a man killed go and kill the man who had done it directly, because he would not have time to ask whether it was done on purpose; and he would be very sorry afterwards if he found out that he had punished another person when he ought not to have done so.

So there were noblemen set over different parts of each kingdom—called Aldermen (which means the same as Elder)—to hold courts with the bishop and the lesser nobles, who were called the king’s Thanes (that is, servants). These courts tried to find out the truth in all disputes, and also before any one was punished for any crime. When the crime was not made out clearly, the man was let off, if he could bring his neighbours to bear witness to his good character. And, in deciding disputes, the judge sometimes took the opinion of twelve men who knew the facts. This was not quite like our trial by jury; but you see that the people had a share in judging one another.

Sometimes the kings wanted to change their old laws, or to make new ones. But the free people said it was not right or fair to make laws for them without telling them first what they were to be. So when the king wanted to make a new law, he called together his Aldermen and Bishops and Thanes to hear what the new law was to be, and if they liked it they said so, and it was made into a law, and then the people obeyed it, and the judges punished those who did not; but if they did not like what the king wished, they all said so, and then it was not made into a law. And, besides the Noblemen and Bishops, the people of the towns were called by the king, to hear what the new law was to be.

But it would have been very troublesome for all the men to go to the king every time he wanted to make a new law, or to change an old one, so the men in one town said, It will be better to send three or four of the cleverest of our neighbours to the king, and they can let us know about the new law, and we will tell them what to say for us, and we will stay at home, and plough the fields, and mind our shops; and so they did; and the men that were sent by their neighbours went to the king, but they had no share in making the laws.

And when the king, and the nobles and bishops, and the men who were sent by their neighbours, met all together in one place to talk about the laws, they called it a Witena-gemot, which means, in the old English of those times, a Meeting of Wise Men. It was something like what we call a Parliament, which means a talking place, because they talk about the best way of making laws before they make them.