Chapters from tJie Biblical Law. days before there was a king in Israel when every man did what was right in his own eyes, the- elders of the towns were the only author ities and the title "judge," orasit isin Hebrew "Shophet," was not applied to judicial au thorities. It was a military title only. The law administered by the elders was the im memorial custom of the community, which naturally varied in different parts of Pales tine. All the tribes of Israel did not enter Palestine at the same time nor by the same road; they were thrown into contact with different people, whose customs insensibly influenced them. These and other reasons counteracted the influence of territorial con tiguity after their settlement in Palestine and served to keep their customs and common law distinct. But in the course of time the settlement of kindred tribes in neighboring territory affected the tribal exdusiveness. Intermarriage became more and more com mon, and these causes, together with the ne cessity for common defence against foreign foes, who frequently invaded the land, united the tribesmen into the beginnings of a nation. With this political union came assimilation of their common law, until the people in various parts of Palestine had customs and common law not very different from each other. In the case of Zelophehad's daughters, which we discussed in the January number of The Green Bag, we saw the beginning of the effect of intermarriage between members of different tribes, in breaking down the tribal barriers. In the twenty-first chapter of the Book of Judges the intermarriage between the surviving Benjaminites and the daughters of Jabesh Gilead and of Shiloh is recorded, a sufficient indication that at the time when this account was written, the people were fairly on the road toward complete assimila tion. In all these communities the elders were the sole authorities until the kings began to interfere in local affairs and appointed their "judges" and "sheriffs" for the various towns of the kingdom. The old councils
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were not thereby abolished, nor were they superseded by the royal officials. The latter sat with them and acted as supervisors of the proceedings, and it is only in the last days of the kingdom that they usurped the au thority of the elders. In the record which' we are considering, the elders are the im memorial heads of the community who act as a j ury in the investigation of the case and the " judges " are the " coroners " — the crown offi cials—who supervise the proceedings. Let us now turn to the text : " If one be found slain in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field," it became the duty of the elders of the towns round about to constitute themselves an in quest, with the royal officials, the " coroners" at their head to investigate the case and en deavor to discover the murderer. This may have been done by each body of elders inde pendently or by all of them acting together; concerning this question we have no light from the record. If after such an investiga tion or inquest the murderer was discovered, he was tried by the elders of the town within whose territorial limits the dead body was found. If the elders found him guilty of wilful killing, he was handed over to the kinsman of the murdered man to be put to death. Anciently the crime of murder was a private family matter punishable not by public law but by the nearest kinsman of the dead man, the " Avenger of the Blood," as he was called. After the settlement in Palestine, public opinion could no longer tolerate the un restricted exercise of this right of vengeance because of the bloody consequences which it entailed. One murder led to another, and the quiet farmers of Palestine would not brook this interference with their peace, al though as wandering nomads it had been their immemorial custom. Hence the town elders tried the slayer and would not permit the Avenger to put him to death until his guilt had been judicially determined by them. Then he was handed over to the Avenger
