Anglo-Saxon law
Early English jurisprudence
Anglo-Saxon law refers to the legal system that governed England from roughly the 5th century until the Norman Conquest in 1066.
It was characterized by customary rules, trial by ordeal, blood feuds settled through monetary compensation called wergild, and local assemblies that administered justice.
The system emphasized kinship obligations and community responsibility rather than centralized royal authority.
Many of its principles, including the concept of trial by jury, influenced the development of English common law.
- hundred courtHistoric subdivision's tribunal
- mootWithout practical significance
- blood moneyPayment tied to death
- compensationPayment for services rendered
- blood feudInherited cycle of retribution
lawmen · kinship · Christianization · ordeal · feud · trial by ordeal · doom · tithing · bot · reeve · shire · witenagemot · oath-taking · Wessex · serf · trial · King Alfred · borough
- Germanic lawlaw codes, blood feud, ordeal, trial by combat, trial by fire
- medieval governancefeudal hierarchy, vassalage, lordship, commons, royal authority
Anglo-Saxon lawRoman law
Ancient Italy's legal system
civil law · Justinian Code · Napoleonic Code · canon law · Islamic law