iderable
landed property, must be in a local tithing, usually ten to twelve
men, in which they serve as personal sureties for each other's
peaceful behavior. If one of the ten landholders in a tithing is
accused of an offense, the others have to produce him in court or
pay a fine plus pay the injured party for the offense, unless they
could prove that they had no complicity in it. If the man is found
guilty but can not pay, his tithing must pay his fine. The chief
officer is the "tithing man" or "capital pledge". There were
probably ten tithings in a hundred. (King Edward the Confessor).

Everyone was to take an oath not to steal, which one's surety
would compel one to keep.

No one may receive another lord's man without the permission of
this lord and only if the man is blameless towards every hand. The
penalty is the bot for disobedience. No lord was to dismiss any of
his men who had been accused, until he had made compensation and
done right.

"No woman or maiden shall be forced to marry a man she dislikes or
given for money."

"Violence to a widow or maiden is punishable by payment of one's
wergeld."

No man may have more wives than one.

No man may marry among his own kin within six degrees of
relationship or with the widow of a man as nearly related to him
as that, or with a near relative of his first wife's, or his god-
mother, or a divorced woman. Incest is punishable by payment of
one's wergeld or a fine or forfeiture of all his possessions.

Grounds for divorce were mutual consent or adultery or desertion.
Adultery was prohibited for men as well as for women. The penalty
was payment of a bot or denial of burial in consecrated ground. A
law of Canute provided that if a wife was guilty of adultery, she
forfeited all her property to her husband and her nose and ears,
but this law did not survive him.

Laymen may marry a second time, and a young widow may again take a
husband, but they will not receive a blessing and must do penance
for their incontinence.

Prostitutes were to be driven out of the land or destroyed in the
land, unless they cease from their wickedness and make amends to
the utmost of their ability.

Neither husband nor wife could sell family property without the
other's consent.

If there was a marriage agreement, it determined the wife's
"dower", which would be hers upon his death. Otherwise, if a man
who held his land in socage [owned it freely and not subject to a
larger landho