mission of crime, breach of contract, or other disgraceful or
injurious conduct, Einechlan was diminished or destroyed, a _capitis
diminutio_ occurred, apart from any other punishment. Though existing
apart from fine, Einechlan was the first element in almost every fine.
_Dire_ was the commonest word for fine, whether great or small. _Eric_
(= reparation, redemption) was the fine for "separating body from soul";
but the term was used in lighter cases also. In capital cases the word
sometimes meant Einechlan, sometimes _coirp-dire_ (= body-fine), but
most correctly the sum of these two. It may be taken that, subject to
modifying circumstances, a person guilty of homicide had to pay (i)
_coirp-dire_ for the destruction of life, irrespective of rank; (2) the
honour-value of the victim; (3) his own honour-value if the deed was
unintentional; and (4) double his own honour-value if committed with
malice aforethought. The sum of these was in all cases heavy; heaviest
when the parties were wealthy. The amount was recoverable as a debt from
the criminal to the extent of his property, and in his default from the
members of his _fine_ in sums determined by the degree of relationship;
and it was distributable among the members of the _fine_ of a murdered
person in the same proportions, like a distribution among the next of
kin. The _fine_ of a murderer could free themselves from liability by
giving up the murderer and his goods, or if he escaped, by giving up any
goods he had left, depriving him of clanship, and lodging a pledge
against his future misdeeds. In these circumstances the law held the
criminal's life forfeit, and he might be slain or taken as a prisoner or
slave. He could escape only by becoming a _daer-fuidhir_ in some distant
territory. When the effect of a crime did not go beyond an individual,
if that individual's _fine_ did not make good their claim while the
criminal lived, it lapsed on his death. "The crime dies with the
criminal." If an unknown stranger or person without property caught
red-handed in the commission of a crime refused to submit to arrest, it
was lawful to maim or slay him according to the magnitude of the
attempted crime. "A person who came to inflict a wound on the body may
be safely killed when unknown and without a name, and when there is no
power to arrest him at the time of committing the trespass." For crimes
against property the usual penalty, as in breach of contract, was
generic restitutio