HIS T O R Y OF ENGL A XD.

29a

Appendix curious monument above mentioned of SaxonX. antiquity, preserved by Hickes. There is indeeda law of Alfred’s which makes wilful murdercapital”; but this seems only to have been anattempt of that great legislator towards establish-ing a better police in the kingdom , and itprobably remained without execution. By thelaws of the same prince, a conspiracy against thelife of the king might be redeemed by a fine ff .

The price of all kinds of wounds was like-wise fixed by the Saxon laws: A wound of aninch long under the hair was paid with oneshilling: One of a like size in the face, twoshillings : Thirty shillings for the loss of an car;and so forth ”. There seems not to have beenany difference made , according to the dignityof the person. By the laws of Ethelbert, anyone who committed adultery with lus neighbour’swife was obliged to pay him a fine, and buyhim another wife ”.

These institutions are not peculiar to the an-cient Germans. They seem to be the necessaryprogress of criminal jurisprudence among everyfree people, where the will of the sovereign isnot implicitly obeyed. We find them among the

,f LL. Æif. § !2. Wilkins , p. 29. It is probable,that by wilful murder Alfred means a treacherous murder,committed by one who has no declared feud with another.

s ‘ LL. Ælf. § 4. Wilkins, p. 35.

57 LL. Ælf. § 40. See also LL. Ethelb. § 34, etc.

" LL. Ethelb. § 32.