Georgetown weekly news., 1855-01-04

ANCIENT LAWS OF COMPENSATION FOR
CRIMEs-King Edmund, to check the mul.
tiplicity of private feuds and combats which
disfigured his reign, established various COM
pensations for loss of life, making no dis
elimination between manslaughter and MUIR
der, 1t appears that kings life was val
ued at thirty thousand thrismas. computed
to be thirteen hundred pounds, or about six
thousand dollars! Ifany one killed a king,
this was "the damage" by paying which he
was acquitted of guilt. The value of a
prince was one half this sum. By payment
Of three thousand dollars, one might have
the privilege of killing prince! 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 hundred dollars. This was not his
salary, but what his murderer must payl-
The huSbandman, Or "ceorle," 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 a king.
A scale of prices for wounds and injuries
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 shilling; a wound of a like
size in the face, two shillings; the loss of an
ear was rated equivalent to thirty shillipgs
These estimates applied to all classes. The
code of Ethelbert provided that any one
who committed adultery with another's
wife, should be compelled to buy him new
one.
In English history there is q record of a
woman giving her sovereign two hundred
fat hens for permission to pass one night in
prison with her husband, and of one hun
dred being brought on account. Another
account speaks of q subject presenting his
king with five of his best palfreys as an in
ducement for him to be silent concerning a
fdur pas Of his wife.
Ancient records show that this mode of
pecuniary reparation for crimes was exten-
sively practised. Blackstone mentions, that,
by the Breton laws, murderers in Ireland
were discharged of their crimes, by giving
the surviving relatives Of the murdered per-
son recompense called Erlach Homer
speaks of this practice. Thus, Nestor, in
his speech to Achilles, says:
If brother bleed,
On just atonement We remit the deed;
sire the slaughter of his son forgiyes;
The price of blood discharged, the murderer lives.
And again in the 18th book of the Iliad,
in the description of the shield of Achilles:
There in the forum swarms numerous train,--
The subject of debate a townsman slain;
One pleads the fine discharged, which one denied,
And bade the public and the law decide.
Another curions feature of these laws of
compensation was the estimate placed on
witnesses. A person whose life was valued
at one hundred and twenty shillipgs coun-
terbalanced six common men, their lives be-
ing reckOped at twenty shillings each; and
his oath was equivalent to that of all the
six.
These laws are said to be descended from
the ancient Germans; among whom we find,
that, II man was called pare, or wrong
fully reprOached with having lost his shield
in battle, he was allowed to exact heavy
fine from his libeller. These fines and equiv
alents were called tredum. Montesquieu
says: "By the law of the Frisous, half sol
was granted as the compensation for man
who had been beaten with stick. By the
Sallc law an ingenu, who gave three blows
OF stick, paid fine of as many soils; and,
If blood were drawn, he was punished as
though the injury hadbeen inflicted with an
m iron weapon, and had to pay fifteen sols.-
The law of the Lombards established vari-
Gus compositions for one, two, or three, or
four blows; and ordained that if man, ac-
companied 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
wonld have had to give in the event of his
having killed him." Prisoners Friend.