Sentence:  Now if the debtor pleads that "I do not know the law but I will comply with whatever the <WSD>thingmen</WSD> think lawful," he [the creditor] must summon him before the thing after five nights, at the shortest, and five times five at the longest, if he knows when the thing is to meet; ... it is then the duty of the <WSD>thingmen</WSD> to decide the matter and to award him his money. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  One of several men gathered at a thing, for example to settle a dispute over a debt.