There, without any special judge, jury, or lawyers, cases of
all kinds were tried and settled by the voice of the entire body, who
were both judge and jury in themselves.

90. Methods of Procedure; Compurgation.

In these courts there were two methods of procedure; first, the
accused might clear himself of the charge brought against him by
compurgations[1]; that is, by swearing that he was not guilty and
getting a number of reputable neighbors to swear that they believed
his oath.

If their oaths were not satisfactory, witnesses might be brought to
swear to some particular fact. In ever case the value of the oath was
graduated according to the rank of the person, that of a man of high
rank being worth as much as that of twelve common men.

91. The Ordeal.

Secondly, if the accused could not clear himself in this way, he was
obliged to submit to the ordeal.[2] This usually consisted in
carrying a piece of hot iron a certain distance, or in plunging the
arm up to the elbow in boiling water.

[2] Ordeal: a severe test or judgment

The person who underwent the ordeal appealed to God to prove his
innocence by protecting him from harm. Rude as both these methods
were, they were better than the old tribal method, which permitted
every man or every man's family to be the avenger of his wrongs.

92. The Common Law.

The laws by which these cases were tried were almost always ancient
customs, few of which had been reduced to writing. They formed that
body of Common Law[3] which is the foundation of the modern system of
justice both in England and America.

[3] So called, in distinction from the statute laws made by
Parliament.

93. Penalties.

The penalties inflicted by these courts consisted chiefly of fines.
Each man's life had a certain "wergild" or money value. The fine for
the murder of a man of very high rank was 2400 shillings; that of a
simple freeman was only one twelfth as much.

A slave could neither testify in court nor be punished by the court;
for the man in that day who held no land had no rights. If a slave
was convicted of crime, his master paid the fine, and then flogged him
until he had got his money's worth out of him. Treason was punished
with death, and common scolds were ducked in a pond until they were
glad to hold their tongues. These methods of administering justice
were crude, but they had the great merit of being effective. They
aimed to do two very necessary things: first,