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If banks are corporations...
And corporations are People...
When banks can "buy" their way out of criminal charges...
Shouldn't people be allowed to do the same?...
Well, under the customs of the Germanic barbarians, which some people imagine to be a major impetus to the development of "democracy," people
were allowed to do exactly that!
It was called
wergeldWeregild (also spelled wergild, wergeld, weregeld, etc.) was a value placed on every human being and every piece of property in the Salic Code (Salic Law). If property was stolen, or someone was injured or killed, the guilty person would have to pay weregild as restitution to the victim's family or to the owner of the property.
The payment of weregild was an important legal mechanism in early Germanic society; the other common form of legal reparation at this time was blood revenge. The payment was typically made to the family or to the clan....
The size of the weregild was largely conditional upon the social rank of the victim. There used to be somewhat of a "basis" fee for a standard "free man", that could then be multiplied according to the social rank of the victim and the circumstances of the crime. The weregild for women relative to that of men of equal rank varied: among the Alamanni it was double the weregild of men, among the Saxons half that of men....
In 9th century Mercian law a regular freeman (churl) was in fact worth 200 shillings, a nobleman was worth 1200. The law code even mentions the weregeld for a king, at 30000, composed of 15000 for the man, paid to the royal family, and 15000 for the kingship, paid to the people. An archbishop is likewise valued at 15000. The weregild for a Welshman was 110 if he owned at least one hide of land, and 80 if he was landless.
Thralls and slaves legally commanded no weregild, but it was commonplace to make a nominal payment in the case of a thrall and the value of the slave in such a case. Technically this amount cannot be called a weregild, because it's more akin to a reimbursement to the owner for lost or damaged property.
The major difference today is that an Important Man, even in the unlikely case that he would be charged for the murder of a mere common man, can hire a crafty lawyer, and stand a very good chance of having all charges against him dismissed.