wergild

Legal penalties were prescribed for causing harm, not for violating rules, and the legal sanction was compensation for the harm by means of wergild. Factual disputes about whether a particular person was responsible for the harm were determined by ordeal or combat.

For example, the practice of wergild, first codified by King AEthelbert (560-1), specified the amount of money paid in compensation for raped widows.

The first Constitution in Medina (622 CE) arranged by Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) contained three aspects directly related to risk protection: social insurance for the Jews, Ansar and Christians; Article 3 concerning 'wergild or 'blood money'; and provision for Fidyah (ransom) and 'aaqila.

There is evidence that money also originated in ancient penal systems that instituted compensation schedules of fines, similar to wergild, as a means of settling one's debt for inflicted wrongdoing to an injured party (Grierson, 1997; Goodhart, 1998; Wray, 1998).

And so, Ethelbert, King of Kent, in the 6th century, specified, in his laws, the customary wergild, and the nature of the wrong for which its payment was to be made.

reflected a mixture of biblical ideas and Anglo-Saxon wergild