Lectures on the Early History of Institutions | Page 8

had at that day, so no one is put to death for his intentional
crimes, so long as 'eric' fine is obtained; and whenever 'eric' fine is not
obtained, he is put to death for his intentional crime, and placed on the
sea for his unintentional crimes." It is impossible, of course, to accept
the statement that this wide-spread ancient institution, the pecuniary
fine levied on tribes or families for the wrongs done by their members,
had its origin in Christian influences; but that it succeeded simple
retaliation is in the highest degree probable, and no doubt in its day it
was at least as great an advantage to the communities among whom it
prevailed as was that stern administration of criminal justice to which
the Englishmen of the sixteenth century were accustomed, and on
which they so singularly prided themselves. but by the sixteenth
century it may well have outlived its usefulness, and so may have
partially justified the invectives of its English censors, who generally
have the 'eric'-fine for homicide in view when they denounce the
Brehon law as 'contrary to God's law and man's.'

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