a law saying that there _shall be_ private property, because that was
the unwritten law that they were all supposed to know.

A.D. 890. WESSEX. ALFRED.

CAP. 27. "If a man, kinless of paternal relatives, fight and slay
a man, and then if he have maternal relatives, let them pay a
third of the 'wer'; his guild-brethren a third part; for a
third let him flee. If he have no maternal relatives, let his
guild-brethren pay half, for half let him flee."

CAP. 28. "If a man kill a man thus circumstanced, if he have
no relatives, let half be paid to the king, half to his
guild-brethren."

It is very hard for us to understand what that means. One would
infer that the weregild was only paid by a man with relatives on his
father's side. It doesn't say that, but that is the inference. We
shall have plenty to say about the guilds later--the historical
predecessors of the modern trades-unions. We here find the word
_guild_ recognized and spoken of in the law as early as 890.

A.D. 920. WESSEX. EDWARD.

"2. And if a ceorl throve, so that had fully five hides of his
own land, church and kitchen, bell-house and burh-gate-seat,
and special duty in the king's hall, then was he thenceforth of
thegn-right worthy.

"6. And if a merchant throve, so that he fared thrice over the