Note 478 — Chapter IX · THE MUTUAL GUARANTEE. MÆGBURH. TITHING. HUNDRED.
Reading edition
“Gif feorcund man oððe fremde bútan wege geond wudu gonge, and ne hrýme né horn bláwe, for þæóf he bið tó prófianne, oððe tó sleánne oððe tó álýsanne. Gif mon ðæs ofslægenan weres bidde, he mót gecýðan ðæt he hine for þeóf ofslóge, nalles ðæs ofslægenan gegildan né his hláford. Gif he hit ðonne dyrneð, and weorðeð ymb lang yppe, ðonne rýmeð he ðám deádan tó ðám áðe, ðæt hine móton his mǽgas unscyldigne gedón.” Ini, § 20, 21. The collocation of gegyldan and mǽgas in this law seems to show clearly that Ini looked upon them as the same thing: hence that in the original institution the gyld and the family were identical, though afterwards, for convenience' sake, the number and nature of the gyld were otherwise regulated, when the kinsmen had become more dispersed.