[p].
[FN [m] LL. Fris. tit. 2. apud. Lindenbrog. p. 491. [n] LL. Aethelb.
Sec. 23. LL. Aelf. Sec. 27. [o] Called by the Saxons MOEGBOTA. [p]
Tacit. de Morib. Germ. The author says, that the price of the
composition was fixed; which must have been by the laws and the
interposition of the magistrates.]

But when the German nations had been settled some time in the
provinces of the Roman empire, they made still another step towards a
more cultivated life, and their criminal justice gradually improved
and refined itself. The magistrate, whose office it was to guard
public peace, and to suppress private animosities, conceived himself
to be injured by every injury done to any of his people; and besides
the compensation to the person who suffered, or to his family, he
thought himself entitled to exact a fine called the Fridwit as an
atonement for the breach of peace, and as a reward for the pains which
he had taken in accommodating the quarrel. When this idea, which is
so natural, was once suggested, it was willingly received both by
sovereign and people. The numerous fines which were levied augmented
the revenue of the king; and the people were sensible that he would be
more vigilant in interposing with his good offices, when he reaped
such immediate advantage from them; and that injuries would be less
frequent, when, besides compensation to the person injured, they were
exposed to this additional penalty [q].
[FN [q] Besides paying money to the relations of the deceased, and to
the king, the murderer was also obliged to pay the master of a slave
or vassal a sum as a compensation for his loss. This was called the
MANBOTE. See Spell. Gloss. in verb. FREDUM, MANBOT.]

This short abstract contains the history of the criminal jurisprudence
of the northern nations for several centuries. The state of England
in this particular, during the period of the Anglo-Saxons, may be
judged of by the collection of ancient laws, published by Lambard and
Wilkins. The chief purport of these laws is not to prevent or
entirely suppress private quarrels, which the legislature knew to be
impossible, but only to regulate and moderate them. The laws of
Alfred enjoin, that if any one know that his enemy or aggressor, after
doing him an injury, resolves to keep within his own house, AND HIS
OWN LANDS [r], he shall not fight him till he require compensation for
the injury. If he be strong enough to besiege him in his house, he
may do it