26. Then it is right for the judge to ask the evidences, will they abide by what is required at their hands. Here all the evidences say, they will. Here all of the two parties doubt the evidences of each other, that they will not carry it to the extremity, though they may so speak: then it is right for the judges to put them to the relics; and after they shall have put them to the relics, it is right for them to withdraw, and decide upon what they deem most right from what they have heard. And if they see that the witnesses of one party are better than those of the other, let them decide against him who has the worst witnesses: if their witnesses be equal, let it be decided against the defendant; for he promises witnesses which should be better than the other's, and he failed. And then it is right for the judges to decide for the plaintiff to take the land, in the condition it was in, when he was unlawfully ejected from it. If the defendant had promised equal witnesses, and they had been found equal, it would have been an equality, and it should have been shared.

27. After that it is right for the judges to prove the guardians, to ascertain whether all of them affirm that the party they uphold be a proprietor; and if the guardians of both parties affirm that each is a proprietor, and they be doubted, it is right to put them to the relics; and let the party whose guardians shall recede lose the land.

28. If the guardians of both parties stand, it is an equality; and where there shall be an equality it is shared.

29. Although he be adjudged to have the land, the person who was in prior possession is not to quit on his account, if he can obtain a house with gable in the same place, and the two lands equal, to prevent his being ejected from thence: and he is not to give unprivileged land, instead of land having privilege; such as that of the office of a canghellor (officer who holds pleas to determine disputes), or of a maer (bailiff), or other franchise.

30. Then it is right for the judges to return to their judgmentplace; and then it is right for them to take security from the two parties, to abide by the judgment; and take surety for their fee. Then the judges are to state the two pleadings, and after that state their judgment; and then the king is to liberate the

BOOK III

PROOF BOOK

Preface: The law of the functions of a judge.

Whosoever may will to undertake judiciary functions, it is right for him to understand this book, so that it may be fitting for him to accept judicial functions; and when his teacher shall find him to be competent, let him commend him to the judge of the court; and the judge of the court is to prove him, and if he find him competent is to recommend him to the lord; and the lord is to invest him with judicial functions; and thenceforth his decisions are to be of authority: and he is to pay twenty-four pence to the judge of the court as his fee. If, from thenceforth, he should pronounce an unjust sentence, he is not entitled to his tongue, unless he redeem it for its worth in law. Should a party enter into a mutual pledge with him, and he be found in the right, he is to have gwynebwarth (fine payable for insult) from the person who shall have so mutually pledged with him; and a camlwrw (fine of three kine) to the lord. A judge is not to receive a pledge after quitting his judgment seat, unless he himself will it and he is not to receive one from a laic, unless promising a more correct decision by another judge, than that pronounced by him.

Chap. i. Of the nine accessories of galanas this treats.

1. The nine accessories of galanas.

2. The first is, to point out the person to be murdered, to the person who is to murder him: and that person is called a bloodytongue.

3. The second is, to counsel the murderer to kill the other.

4. The third is, to consent to the murder.

For each of those three accessories, if denied, the oaths of one hundred men are to deny it: if he confess it, let him pay nine score of silver.

5. The fourth is, to be a spy.

6. The fifth is, association with the murderer.

7. The sixth is, to go to the trev (territorial division of land), wherein the person is who is to be killed, with the murderer.

To deny each of those three, the oaths of two hundred men are required: or twice nine score of silver, if acknowledged. 8. The seventh is, to be aiding.

9. The eighth is, to hold the person to be killed, until the murderer come to kill him.

10. The ninth is, to see the person murdered in his presence, without rescuing him.

For each of those three, if denied, the oaths of three hundred men are required: or thrice nine score of silver, if acknowledged.

11. Some say, that the kindred are to have that money, together with the denial; because those accessories being the cause of the murder of their relation, they are to have that money, and to deny blood and wound and killing of their relation, they are to have the raith which we have mentioned above; the law, however, says, that no one is to have both the denial and the money; and that they are not to have that denial and the money; since the kindred are only to have the saraad (fine) and galanas of their relation; and that in such instance there is neither assault, nor battery, nor blood, nor wound, nor loss of life; and where such do not occur, there is neither saraad nor galanas (sum assessed upon the criminal and his relatives as retribution for murder); and therefore the kindred are to have nothing from the accessories aforesaid. It is wrong to commit those accessories aforesaid, and therefore the lord is to have a camlwrw (fine of three kine) for them, according to the degree of the accessories; one singly, another two-fold, another three-fold, since no fighting took place there; and, if there had been fighting, there would have been a dirwy (fine of 12 kine) to the lord. The amount of a dirwy is three pounds, or twelve kine: the amount of a camlwrw is three kine, or nine score of silver.

12. Whoever is a murderer, the full galanas (the sum assessed upon the criminal) falls upon him. And thus the galanas is to be shared: one third upon the murderer, and upon his father and mother, if they be living; and of that, two parts upon himself, and the third upon his father and mother; and of the third which falls upon the parents, two pence upon the father, and one upon the mother.

If the murderer have children, and they be of age liable to pay, he is to pay as much as two of them; two pence upon the brother and one on the sister. Of the two parts that fall upon his kindred, the third upon the kindred of the murderer's mother, and the two parts upon the kindred of the father: and so the galanas proceeds from maternity to maternity unto the seventh descent, or the seventh maternity: for the children of the first mother are brothers; and the children of the grandmother, are first cousins; and the children of the great-grandmother, are second cousins; and the children of the mother in the fourth degree, are third cousins; and the children of the mother in the fifth degree, are fourth cousins; and the children of the mother in the sixth degree, are fifth cousins; and the children of the mother in the seventh degree, are sixth cousins; and galanas goes no further than that. Though only two or three of the degrees should be ascertained, let the galanas be cast upon them; and that which falls not upon them, is to be shared upon the families from whom the father is descended, rating two shares upon the stock.

13. Upon the kindred after the sixth cousin, the spear penny is to be assessed; and that goes to assist the murderer. The manner it is exacted is, the murderer is to take a servant of the lord, carrying with him a relic; and wherever he shall meet with a person beyond the seventh degree of kindred, let such person take his oath, that he is not descended from any of the four kindreds from which the other is descended; and unless he take that oath, let him pay a spear penny; and if he take the oath, he is to be exempted.

14. A woman does not pay a spear penny, for she has not a spear, but her distaff only; neither do clerks pay it: and a woman does not pay galanas, if she make oath that she shall have no children; neither do clerks pay it: and it is not paid by a boy under fourteen years of age.

15. The law of galanas.

Thus the galanas fine is to be exacted: the first third to the lord for exacting it; and the second third to the father and mother and their children; out of that, two shares to the father, and one to the mother: and of that which shall come to the father and the mother, two pence to the father, and one to the mother: and of what remains for the children, if there be children of the murdered man, two shares to them. And the two parts which go to the kindred are to be divided into three shares; and of that one third to the kindred of the mother, and the two parts to the kindred of the father. And so galanas is shared, and received, from third to third: and so the thirds are received, in every one of the triads, between the lord and the kindred. The eldest son is to point out the offspring of his father, and his family; and attend the servants of the lord in collecting the galanas.

16. The period for galanas is a fortnight, after being summoned, for each lordship wherein they live, to apportion the payment; and twice that time for exacting the payment, and to assemble

them to pay it. And every lord is to have the exacting third in his own lordship. At three periods, and in three thirds, the galanas is to be paid; two periods for the kindred of the father, and one for the kindred of the mother; because two-thirds fall upon the kindred of the father, and therefore they are to have two periods. At the first period for the kindred of the father to pay one of their thirds, they are to have the oaths of one hundred of the best men of the other kindred, that their relation is forgiven; and at the second period, on their paying their second third, they are also to have the oaths of another hundred men of the other kindred, that their relation is forgiven; and those of the best men of the tribe; and at the third period, the kindred of the mother are to pay their third; and then they are to have the oaths of a hundred men of the other kindred, that their relation is forgiven: and everlasting concord is to be established on that day, and perpetual amnesty between them.

17. The oaths of three hundred men of a kindred are required to deny murder, blood, and wound, and the killing of a person; and therefore it is right to give the oaths of three hundred men to release him; and for amnesty between the kindreds, the raith we have mentioned above.

18. To deny the killing of a person with savage violence, the oaths of six hundred men are required; for the galanas and its penance being double, so the denial also is to be double.

19. When a person is killed, saraad is done to him in the first instance, and that saraad does not augment; and, therefore, it is right to pay that saraad before the galanas; and if the man have a wife, let the third of the saraad be given to her, and the two parts be shared among the brothers, the cousins, and the second cousins; and if his father be alive, he is to have as much as two of the brothers; and if his mother be alive, she is to have as much as two sisters: and that is the best form; for they are the several persons who are to pay saraad with him, if he were to do saraad to another. Others say, that after one third is given to the wife, the other two parts are to be mixed with the galanas, and shared among the kindred.

20. The lord is to have the exacting third of the saraads, as of the galanases.

21. Neither clerks nor women are to have a share of the galananas, since they are not avengers: however, they are to pay for their children; or make an oath that they shall never have any.

22. Some of the judges suffer the mother, father, brothers,