959-975 A.D.
One of the extant legal documents from Anglo-Saxon England. This contains some old english, which is explained in the glossary.
This is the Ordinance how the Hundred shall be held.
1. That they meet always within four weeks: and that every man do
justice to another.
2. That a thief shall be pursued...If there be present need,
let it be known to the hundred-man, and let him make it known to the tithing-men; and
let all go forth to where God may direct them to go: let them do justice on the thief, as
it was formerly the enactment of Edmund. And let the ceapgeld be paid to him who owns the
cattle, and the rest be divided into two; half to the hundred, half to the lord, excepting
men; and let the lord take possession of the men.
3. And the man who neglects this, and denies the doom of the hundred,
and the same be afterwards proved against him; let him pay to the hundred thirty pence,
and for the second time sixty pence; half to the hundred, half to the lord. If he do so a
third time, let him pay half a pound: for the fourth time, let him forfeit all that he
owns, and be an outlaw, unless the king allow him to remain in the country.
4. And we have ordained concerning unknown cattle; that no one should
possess it without the testimonies of the men of the hundred, or of the tithing-man; and
that he be a well trusty man: and, unless he have either of these, let no vouching to
warranty be allowed him.
5. We have also ordained: if the hundred pursue a track into another
hundred, that notice be given to the hundred-man, and that he then go with them. If he
neglect this, let him pay thirty shillings to the king.
6. If any one flinch from justice and escape, let him who held him to
answer for the offense pay the anylde. And if any one accuse him of having sent him
away, let him clear himself, as it is established in the country.
7. In the hundred, as in any other gemot, we ordain: that folkright be
pronounced in every suit, and that a term be fixed when it shall be fulfilled. And he who
shall break that term, unless it be by his lord's decree, let him make bot with thirty
shillings, and, on the day fixed, fulfil that which he ought to have done before.
8. An ox's bell, and a dog's collar, and a blast-horn, either of these
three shall be worth a shilling, and each is reckoned an informer.
9. Let the iron that is for the threefold ordeal weigh three pounds; and for the
single, one pound.
see the glossary, or
more Anglo-Saxon Laws and Customs