The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1855-03-14
ANCIENT LAWS OF C0MPENsA-
TION FOR GRIMES.

King Edmund, to check the multi
plicity of private feuds and combats
which disfgured his reign, established
various compensations for loss of life, ma
king no discrimination between man-
slaughter and murder. It appears that
kings life was valued at thirty thou
sand thrismas, computed to be thirteen
hundred pounds, or about six thousand
dollars If any one killed a king, this
was "the damage BY paying which he
was acquitted Of guilt. The value Of q
prince was one half this sum. By pay
ment of three thousand dollars, one
might have tho privilege Of killing a
prjncel A bishop or an alderman was
worth about half as much as a prince
A sheriff was valued at eight hundred
dollars common clergyman at four 8
hundred dollars This was not his sala-
ry but what his murderer must payi
The husbaudman, or ssceorle, p WAS worth
only about fifty dollars! a king was worth
one hundred and twenty common men !
In this singular tariff an archbishop was
worth more than king.
A scale of prices for wounds and In
juries was formerly In operation. Thus
we find in the early Saxon annals, that
a wound an inch in length under the
hair, was settled by payment of one shil--
ling; wound of like size IN the face,
two shillings; the loss of an ear was rated
equivalent to thirty shillings. These es-
Inmates applied to AL classes. The code
of Ethelbert provided that any one who,
committed adultery with another's. wife,
should be eompelledto buy him a new
Tn Eo,lasb 6iztr,,,, I. ..nor,-sl -
one. -
| woman giving her sovereign two hun
! drcd fat hens for permission to pass one
night in prison with her husband, and of
one hundred being brought on account.
Another account speaks Of a subject pre-
senting his king with five of his best pail
freys as an inducement for him to be ST.
lent concerning a faatg pas of his wife.
Ancient records show that this mode
of pecuniary repafations for crimes was
extensively practised. Blackstone men,
tions that by the Brello1s laws murders
ers in ireland were discharged of their
crimes, by giving the surviving relatives
of the murdered person reeompense
called Eviach. Homer speakssof prAe-
tice. Thus, Nestor, in his speech to
Achilles, says
| II a brother bleed,
On just atonement remit the deedS ssr
sire the slaughter of his SON forgivesS -
The prince ofbIood disGhargeds the murderer hyess
| And again in the 18th book Of the IL
lad, In the description of the shield Of
] Achilles
There in the forum szz arms arlrnerorzs traan
/ The subject of debate, a townsman slain1
One pleads the fine discharged, which one denied,
And bade the public aud the law decide. :
l onfhor rfr11c foafr4ra- of fhaco lauvo
of compensation was the estimate placed
on witnesses. A person whose life was
valued at one hundred and twenty shil-a
lings counterbalanced six common mens
their lives being reckoned at twenty shil-
lings each and his oath was equivalent
to that of all the six.
These laws are said to be descended
from the encient Germans; among whom
We find, that if a man was called a pare
or wrongfully reproached with having
lost his shield in battle, he was allowed
to exact heavy fine from his HbelleEs
These fines and equivalents were called
freduus. Montesquien says: By the
law ofthe prisons, half a sol was granted
as the compensation for a man who had
been beaten with stick. By the Salic-
law, an aagenas. who gave three
blows of stick, paid fine of as many
soils, and if blood were drawn, he was
/ punished as though the injury had been
inflicted with an iron weapon and had to
pay fifteen soils. The law of the Lom-
bards established various compositions,
for one, two, or three, or four blowsi
and ordained that if man, accompanied
by his followers, went to assault another
who was not upon his guard, to bring
shame and ridicule upon him, he should
pay half of the composition which he
would had to give IN the event -ef his
having killed him. VI PRISONERS Friend :