emain in the land....

"We have also ordained that if the hundred pursue a track into another
hundred, notice be given to the hundred elder, and that he go with them.
If he fail to do so let him pay L30 to the King....

"If anyone flinch from justice and escape, let him that hath him in
custody pay damages (_angild_). And if he be accused of having aided the
escape, let him clear himself according to the law of the country."

_Angild_ is defined by Maitland as the money compensation which the
person who has been wronged is entitled to receive--i.e., damage as
distinct from the fine (_wite_). Here, it is evident, we are on the same
ground as in the chapter treating of purgation by oath and the ordeal.
When we recollect that the thief had to face the pain and uncertain
issue of an ordeal, and that conviction might involve, _in addition to
the fine_, banishment, slavery, or the loss of a foot, we see at once
the temptation to abscond, but the disappearance of the accused was not
only prejudicial to the accuser, but compromised the person who was
responsible for his production. The escaped thief, therefore, was a
_nuisance_, as well as a danger, and, if he remained contumacious,
forfeiture of life and property was deemed not too heavy a penalty. If,
instead of being a thief, the felon chanced to be a murderer, the
inconvenience to the community, in whose midst the crime had been
perpetrated, was still greater. One of the laws of Edward the Confessor
ordained that if a man were found slain and the slayer could not be
found, a fine of 46 marks (L30 13_s._ 4_d._) was to be paid into the
Treasury by the township and hundred. The Pipe Rolls contain many
instances of payments for murders of which the doers were not taken
red-handed, the fines varying in amount. In 14 Henry II. the Sheriff of
Devon accounted for 100_s._ for one murder in Wonford Hundred, 10 marks
for several murders in Axminster Hundred, and 20_s._ for a murder in
North Tawton Hundred. Another sum of 20_s._ was remitted by the village
or township of Braunton for peace in respect of a murder committed
there.[10]

The position of affairs is thus clear. The murderer was regarded as a
member of a corporation, which had to answer for him, and, failing to do
so, was liable to a forfeit. The manslayer, therefore, if he did not
make his surrender, added to his original offence against an individual
or family those of disloyalty and injury to a community; and,
accordin