A Legal Study of Saint Augustine, the Saxon. 499
law were written in the language of the English people; the originals in Saxon times were
always in Latin, and those of Norman times
in Latin or Norman-French. The copies of
the Saxon Dooms extant are transcripts
from the translations in meagre use.
The originals of Acts of Parliament continued to be written in Norman French down to the beginning of the sixteenth century, and the records of legal proceedings down to the middle of the eighteenth century.
The government and laws of the natives were subjects of grave concern to Augustine, and to relieve his anxiety he submitted his case in nine questions to Pope Gregory, and Gregory answered them at length, setting forth Augustine's future conduct in Britain.
The third, fourth and fifth questions of St. Augustine, and the answers of Gregory, have a peculiar interest to students of legal history. I give them in detail here:
Augustine's third question: "I beseech you to inform me what punishment may be inflicted if any one shall take anything by stealth from the church?"
Gregory answers: "You may judge, my brother, by the person of the thief, in what manner he is to be corrected. For there are some, who having substance, commit theft, and there are others who transgress in this point through want. Wherefore it is requisite that some be punished in their purses, others with stripes; some with more severity, and some more mildly. And when the severity is more, it is to proceed from charity, not from passion; because this is done to him who is corrected, that he may not be delivered up to hell fire. For it behooves us to maintain discipline among the faithful, as good parents do with their carnal children, whom they punish with stripes for their faults, and yet design to make those their heirs whom they chastise; and they preserve what they possess for those whom they seem in anger to persecute. This charity is, therefore, to be kept in mind, and it dictates the measure of the punishment so that the mind may do nothing beyond the rule of reason. You may add that they are to restore those things which they have stolen from the church."
Augustine's fourth question: "Whether two brothers may marry two sisters, which are of a family far removed from them?"
Gregory answers: "This may lawfully be done; for nothing is found in Holy Writ that seems to contradict it."
Augustine's fifth question: "To what degree may the faithful marry with their kindred? And whether it is lawful for men to marry their stepmothers and relatives?"
Gregory answers: "A certain worldly law in the Roman Commonwealth allows that the son and daughter of a brother and sister, or of two brothers, or two sisters, may be joined in matrimony; but we have found, by experience, that no offspring can come of such wedlock; and the Divine Law forbids a man 'to uncover the nakedness of his kindred.' Hence of necessity it must be the third or fourth generation of the faithful that can be lawfully joined in matrimony; for the second, which we have mentioned, must altogether abstain from one another. To marry with one's stepmother is a heinous crime, because it is expressly forbidden in the law. It is also prohibited to marry with a sister-in-law, be cause by the former union she is become the brother's flesh."
The third question and answer intelligently deal with the law of theft, and regulates a fine and corporal punishment for malefactors. It also counsels the restitution of stolen property, and lenient punishment for thefts committed under certain conditions.
The fourth answer establishes a marriage relation which is unchanged to this day.
The fifth answer clearly defines what marriages are and are not incestuous. This law has remained unchanged to this day in England, but in some American States it has been slightly modified.
