King Alfred
historical figure · 2 works · 4 mentions · 8 anchored passages
Alfred · the great Alfred
in the texts
An Essay on the Trial by Jury
King of the West Saxons credited with compiling and writing down the Saxon laws with the consent of his Witan.
“He (Alfred) also, like another Theodosius, collected the various customs that he found dispersed in the kingdom, and reduced and digested them into one uniform system, or code of laws, in his som-bec, or liber judicialis (judicial book).
“Alfred may, in one sense, be called the founder of these laws, (the Saxon,) for until his time they were an unwritten code, but he expressly says, ‘that I, Alfred, collected the good laws of our forefathers into one code, and also I wrote them down’—which is a decisive fact in the history of our laws well worth noting.
, one uniform digest or body of laws to be observed throughout the whole kingdom, being probably no more than a revival of King Alfred’s code, with some improvements suggested by necessity and experience, particularly the incorporating some of the British, or, rather, Mercian customs, and also such of the Danish (customs) as were reasonable and approved, into the West Saxon Lage, which was still t …
Ancient Law
The Anglo-Saxon king whose writings on the origin of criminal jurisdiction and treason are discussed and quoted.
There is a passage in the writings of King Alfred (Kemble, ii.