The Quaint Laws of Howel Dda. of Howel Dda, the thief seems to have been dealt with more severely than the murderer. ■ Murder was expiable by fine. The "galanas" or murder fine, like the saraad, varied with the social rank of the victim; thus the galanas for killing a steward was nine score of silver and nine kine, while that for killing a bondman was one pound. The murder fine is described as having nine "accessories," whereof "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 Bloody Tongue." Following the laws relating to the crimes of arson, theft, and murder, are a hundred clauses specifying the worth of wild and tame animals, birds and even insects. That there may be no legal dispute over cases involving damages to these creatures, a price is put upon them as a whole, upon their limbs, eyes, ears, feet, horns, manes, and tails. We read that "the worth of a horse's foot is his full worth "; either of his eyes one-third thereof; while his mane is valued at fourpence, which is the legal value of eight horseshoes with their nails. If a cow's horn was broken, or her tail cut off, the amount of damage the owner could claim for cither loss was fourpence. A kid, a lamb, and a pig were each worth a penny at birth, while a foal and a she-calf were valued at fourpence. A cat was of the same value. " The worth of a kitten from the night it is kittened until it shall open its eyes, is a legal penny; and from that time until it shall kill mice, two legal pence." Good dogs were valuable. " A herd dog is worth the best ox, but whosoever may possess a cur, though it be the King, its value is fourpence." But more than this, the Howellian Code even describes the natural functions of the creatures mentioned, so that if the purchaser of one of them should find his purchase deficient, he might claim a rebate. Thus the functions of the cat are stated as being : "To see, to hear, and to kill mice, to have
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her claws entire, to rear and not devour her kittens; and if she be bought, and be de ficient in any of those teithe (qualities), let one-third of her worth be returned." The birds and bees are appraised in the same manner and with, equal minuteness, and then a price is set upon skins of animals, and trees. Then follow columns appraising the bodily parts of the animal man. We are told that the legal value of a foot, a hand, an eye, an ear, a nose and either of the lips was six kine and six score of silver; while a finger, a toe, or a tooth were worth a cow and two score of silver. " The worth of the tongue itself is equal to the worth of all the other members, because it defends them." For a broken bone, twenty pence might be claimed, " unless there be a dispute as to its diminutiveness," in which event — mark this — "the doctor is to take a brass basin and to place his elbow on the ground and let the fractured bone fall upon his hand into the basin; and if its sound be heard, let fourpence be paid; and if nothing be heard then nothing is due." Surely we will have to go far to find a law as rich as that, or, for that matter, as this one concerning hair pulling: "The worth of hair plucked from the roots is a penny for every finger used in plucking it out, and two pence for the thumb, and two pence for the hair." If in the foregoing, evidence of any par ticular goodness in the old Welsh lawgiver, surnamed the Good, be lacking, read this decree relating to the working of animals : "The driver is to yoke the oxen carefully, so that they be not too tight, nor too loose; and to drive them so as not to break their hearts." Moreover he ruled that neither horses, mares, nor cows were to be put to the plough. Apropos of ploughing I wonder what our farmers would say to such a law as this : "No one is to undertake the work of a ploughman unless he know how to make a plough and nail it; for he ought to make it
