Note 16 — Chapter I · PENAL METHODS OF THE MIDDLE AGES
Reading edition
“The penal law of ancient communities is not a law of crimes; it is a law of wrongs, or, to use the English technical word, of torts. The person injured proceeds against the wrongdoer by an ordinary civil action, and recovers compensation in the shape of money damages if he succeeds.”—Maine, Ancient Law, p. 379.