268
THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND.
[book I.
another. Where no imperium yet exists, society it-
self possesses only a ius belli against its own seve-
ral members ; and if neighbours will not be neigh-
bourly, they must be coerced into peace (the great
and first need of all society and the condition of its
existence) by alliance of the many against the few,
of the orderly and peaceful against the violent and
lawless. This right of feud then lies at the root
of all Teutonic legislation ; and in the Anglosaxon
law especially it continues to be recognized long
after an imperial power has been constituted, and
the general conservancy of the peace has been com-
mitted to a central authority, ɪt admits as its most
general term, that each freeman is at liberty to de-
fend himself, his family and his friends ; to avenge
all wrongs done to them, as to himself shall seem
good ; to sink, burn, kill and destroy, as amply as
a royal commission now authorizes the same in a
professional class, the recognized executors of the
national will in that behalf. Now it is obvious
that such a power, exercised in its full extent, must
render the formation of an orderly society difficult,
if not impossible. The first problem then is to de
vise means by which private vengeance may be
regulated,"private wrong atoned, the necessity of
each man’s doing himself right avoided, and the
general state of peace and security provided for.
For setting aside the loss to the whole community
which may arise from private feud, the moral sense
of men may be shocked by its results : an indivi-
dual’s own estimate of the satisfaction necessary
to atone for the injury done to him, may lead to
CH. x∙]
FÆ'HDE. WERGYLD.
269
the commission of a wrong on his part, greater than
any he hath suffered ; nor can the strict rule of “ an
eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,” be applied,
where the exaction of the penalty depends upon the
measure of force between appellant and defender.
In the feeling then of the omnipotence of the
State, for paramount purposes, over all the several
individuals whose proximity to one another neces-
sarily caused the existence between them of rela-
tions, amicable or hostile, the Teutonic nations set
themselves the task of regulating the Bight of Feud.
They could not entirely abrogate it, for it was the
very basis of that freedom which enabled every man
to enter into a contract or engagement as to the
mode of its exercise ; but they defined, and as far
as possible limited, its sphere and the extent of its
action.
The natural right of every man to do himself
justice to the extent of his own estimate1, seems
early to have received so much check as could be
given by the establishment of a lex talionisi—life
for life, and limb for limb. The eorl who captured
the thane Imma, in the seventh century, could say
to him, “ I might justly put thee to death, be-
cause my kinsmen fell in the battle wherein thou
` This is the wild right of every outlaw, the law of nature which re-
sumes its force when human law has been relinquished.
u I lost mine eye in laying the prize aboard,
And therefore, to revenge it, shalt thou die ! ”
Hen. VL Part 2, act iv. sc. 1.
Such is the justice of him who has returned to the universal state of
war. Against such a one, Society, if it mean to be society, must on its
side declare a war of extermination.