394 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



certain festival days, and cities of refuge were established, 

 whither the criminal might flee and be safe ; or, as in Western 

 Australia, "crimes might be compounded by the criminal com- 

 mitting himself to the ordeal of having spears thrown at him 

 by all such persons as conceive themselves to have been ag- 

 grieved," care being taken, however, to limit the punishment in 

 such a way that the prisoner might escape without mortal wounds. 

 But the law in the interest of peace and progress soon fixed upon 

 a composition for the crime, known as " wergild, or man-money." 

 Such was the practice of our Anglo-Saxon forefathers less than 

 a thousand years ago, when the wergild, or fine, of which our 

 judicial fines are a survival, was regarded a fitting substitute for 

 personal vengeance. The survival of the law of retaliation, as 

 expressed in the passage from Exodus, is seen in the composition 

 provided for each part of the body. The teeth, hair, nails, and 

 other parts had their peculiar value, the hair being especially 

 prized. For instance, the loss of the beard was estimated at 

 twenty shillings, while a broken thigh was worth only twelve. 

 The loss of a front tooth was reckoned at six shillings and a 

 fractured rib at three. The composition for a freeman was two 

 hundred shillings, or half price for the loss of a foot or hand, 

 five shillings for the little-finger nail, and so on. There is one 

 point, however, that deserves notice in this connection. The value 

 of a man varied according to his rank, the royal thegn or lord 

 being rated as high as twelve hundred shillings. While impar- 

 tiality with regard to rank or wealth is the rule of justice in all 

 civilized communities to-day, yet in many instances it seems as 

 difficult for our courts and juries to overlook these factors as it 

 was in Anglo-Saxon law, and the big embezzler stands an infi- 

 nitely greater chance of escaping punishment befitting the crime 

 than the petty thief. 



Our criminal law grew out of the old private vengeance, but 

 in accordance with modern ideas the state, representing the com- 

 munity, has become the avenger. While the older method of 

 family responsibility went a long way toward securing orderly 

 government, it has given way to the better plan of holding the 

 individual responsible, though the traces of the former still lin- 

 ger on in the ignominy which seems even in these days to attach 

 to the relatives of a criminal. 



When we speak of the vengeance of the law, the old idea that 

 the law is being avenged by the punishment of the criminal is 

 revived ; but the prevailing idea in dealing with the criminal 

 classes is that punishment is exacted for the benefit of society 

 and for the repression of crime. The public prosecutor stands in 

 the place of the avenger, and witnesses may be compelled by the 

 state to appear in the interest of the public peace. The blood- 



