ishable with the overseunesse of 120 shillings; and a similar penalty befell the accuser who would not continue the suit. As in the action for stolen movables, the judicial procedure began with a fore-oath, in order to prevent trivial accusations. This, with the confession or denial of the defendant, was the litis contestatio, and, with the judgment, completed the procedure in the first assize. A short interval elapsed in which the proof might be prepared for the second assize. But, if the condemned did not give pledge to fulfil the judgment and made default, he was followed by the procedure of contumacy; in which the one who would not find pledge, or who fled, suffered confiscation of property, and finally became an outlaw. In the assize of proof, the defendant as a rule went to the oath with oath-helpers; but the proof was given to the plaintiff whenever the guilt of the defendant was presumably clear; as in case of a thief caught in the act, or whenever culpa was apparent. In casus, the defendant swore, and simply explained his innocence. The oath-helpers must be considered to be a real means of proof; because, although they swore to the purity of the chief-swearer's oath, they were selected from peers, neighbors, and kinsmen, in order that they might be able to judge of the character of their chief. Whenever the swearer was not oath-worthy, a perjurer, "oversworn," or friendless, or when he could not find oathhelpers, he must go to the ordeal either of fire or water; if of the clergy, to that of the morsel. 20 To Professor F. A. MARCH of Lafayette College, and to Professor F. J. CHILD of Harvard College, acknowledgment is due for essential assistance in the translation of the Anglo-Saxon Charters included in this collection. SELECT CASES IN ANGLO-SAXON LAW. No. 1. NOTHHELM, 734-737. Cod. Dip. LXXXII. THIS is not a suit at law, but a case in which a church council regulates the right of possession to church property, and certifies to the nature of the title. Land had been granted to two women, Dunna and her daughter Bucga, for the construction of a monastery. Bucga seems to have died, leaving her mother Dunna sole proprietor. Dunna, on her own death, bequeathed all her land, including the monastery, to her grand-daughter, Hrotwar, entrusting the deeds to the possession of Hrotwar's mother, whose name is not mentioned. When Hrotwar came of age, and demanded possession of the deeds, her mother alleged that they had been stolen. Thereupon the daughter appealed to the church council, which caused a certified statement of the case to be made out and delivered to her for her protection. GLORIOSISSIMUS Mercensium rex Aethelred, cum comite suo, subregulo Huuicciorum Oshero, rogatus ab eo, terram xx cassatorum iuxta fluuium, cui uocabulum est Tillath, duabus sanctimonialibus, Dunnan uidelicet et eius filiae Bucgan, ad construendum in ea monasterium, in ⚫ius ecclesiasticum sub libera potestate, pro uenia facinorum suorum condonauit, propriaeque manus subscriptione hanc eorum donationem firmauit. Praefata autem Dei famula Dunne, constructum in prae ÆTHELRED, most glorious king of the Mercians, with his ealdorman Oshere, under-king of the Hwicci, at his request, for the pardon of his own sins, granted twenty hides of land, near the river Tillath, to two holy women, - namely, Dunna and her daughter Bucga, hold in free possession, according to church right, for the purpose of constructing a monastery thereon; and he confirmed this donation by the subscription of his own hand. Now, the aforesaid servant of God, to |