The Laws of Ethelbert (aka Æthelberht)

Sasha's post over at the Volokh Conspiracy on the earliest English words in the OED discussed the Laws of Ethelbert, who wrote, with the help of Augustine of Canterbury, the first codified laws in any Anglo-Saxon Kingdom. I've always loved old laws, from the Code of Hammurabi to Codex Justinianus. They tell us so much about the societies which produced them. The complete (mostly) translated text of Ethelbert's Laws is available on-line in Our Legal Heritage, 4th ed., by S.A. Reilly of Chicago, Illinois (available as a free e-book thanks to Project Gutenberg), at the end of the first chapter. For convenience, I've reproduced just the laws here.

On a serious note, the most important observation is that Ethelbert's Code is about at the civilization level of Hammurabi's (written 2,300 years before Ethelbert's), while Justinian's Code (written about a century before Ethelbert's) reflects a much more complex, advanced civilization. Both Ethelbert and Hammurabi are primarily barely-organized lists of punishments for various harms done to others. Justinian, however, sets forth a complex web of specifications for all types of inheritance, family arrangements, and other social and governmental structures, in a highly organized, principled arrangement. In future posts, I'll be referring back to all of these sources to show that the legally-established social structures have a significant impact on the types of society which develop under those legal structures.

But enough seriousness! Let's look at funny parts of the "Dooms of Æthelberht":

They certainly had their priorities straight:

64. If any one destroy [another's] organ of generation [penis], let him pay him with 3 leod gelds: if he pierce it through, let him make bot with 6 shillings; if it be pierced within, let him make bot with 6 shillings.

I'm still looking to figure how just how much a "leod geld" was, but it must have been a lot. An earlier provision provides for just half a geld if one freeman kills another: "21. If a [free] man slay another, let him make bot with a half leod geld [wergeld for manslaughter] of 100 shillings." That would suggest a castration value of 600 shillings.

Ever read an insurance policy, especially those last-minute flight insurance policies you once could buy at the airport? Were you fascinated, as I was, by the value set on particular injuries (so much for loss of one eye, more for loss of both, etc.)? Well, the insurance companies are just copying a very old way of looking at maiming. Many of Ethelbert's Laws could have been written just for such insurance policies. The whole thing is almost a comprehensive list of all the damage one man could cause to another with the weapons available in early 7th century England.

34. If there be an exposure of the bone, let bot be made with 3 shillings.

35. If there be an injury to the bone, let bot be made with 4 shillings.

36. If the outer hion [outer membrane covering the brain] be broken, let bot be made with 10 shillings. Yikes!

37. If it be both [outer and inner membranes covering the brain], let bot be made with 20 shillings. You could survive this in the 7th century?

38. If a shoulder be lamed, let bot be made with 30 shillings.

39. If an ear be struck off, let bot be made with 12 shillings.

40. If the other ear hear not, let bot be made with 25 shillings.

...

54. If a thumb be struck off, 20 shillings. If a thumb nail be
off, let bot be made with 3 shillings. If the shooting [fore]
finger be struck off, let bot be made with 8 shillings. If the
middle finger be struck off, let bot be made with 4 shillings. If
the gold [ring]finger be struck off, let bot be made with 6
shillings. If the little finger be struck off, let bot be made
with 11 shillings.

Women do not seem to have enjoyed a high role in society:

77. If a man buy a maiden with cattle, let the bargain stand, if it be without fraud; but if there be fraud, let him bring her home again, and let his property be restored to him.

82. If a man carry off a maiden by force, let him pay 50 shillings to the owner, and afterwards buy [the object of] his will from the owner.

On the other hand:

79. If she wish to go away with her children, she shall have half the property.

80. If the husband wish to keep them [the children], [she shall have the same portion] as one child.

They did disapprove of adultery with the servant's women (but of course, you only write laws to prohibit things actually done by people in the society, so the mere existence of the law tells us that sexual harassment of the hired help was alive and well way back then):

85. If a man lie with an esne's wife, her husband still living, let him make twofold bot.

So there you have it. Take a look and cite your own favorites in the comments!