composition, and reduced it to a certainty. However, the king, as the
sovereign of all, and the sheriff, as the judicial officer, had their
share in those fines. This unwillingness to shed blood, which the Saxon
customs gave rise to, the Christian religion confirmed. Yet was it not
altogether so imperfect as to have no punishment adequate to those great
delinquencies which tend entirely to overturn a state, public robbery,
murder of the lord.[71]

[Sidenote: Origin of succession.]

[Sidenote: Annual property.]

As amongst the Anglo-Saxons government depended in some measure upon
land-property, it will not be amiss to say something upon their manner
of holding and inheriting their lands. It must not be forgot that the
Germans were of Scythian original, and had preserved that way of life
and those peculiar manners which distinguished the parent nation. As the
Scythians lived principally by pasturage and hunting, from the nature of
that way of employment they were continually changing their habitations.
But even in this case some small degree of agriculture was carried on,
and therefore some sort of division of property became necessary. This
division was made among each tribe by its proper chief. But their shares
were allotted to the several individuals only for a year, lest they
should come to attach themselves to any certain habitation: a settlement
being wholly contrary to the genius of the Scythian, manners.

Campestres melius Scythæ,
Quorum plaustra vagas rite trahunt domos,
Vivunt, et rigidi Getæ,
Immetata quibus jugera liberas