A man is wounded, killed, robbed, wronged in any way; his kin retaliate on the offender and _his_ kindred.

The blood-feud, the taking of blood for blood, endured for centuries in Scotland after the peace of the whole realm became, under David I., "the King's peace." Homicides, for example, were very frequently pardoned by Royal grace, but "the pardon was of no avail unless it had been issued with the full knowledge of the kin of the slaughtered man, who otherwise retained their _legal_ right of vengeance on the homicide." They might accept pecuniary compensation, the blood-fine, or they might not, as in Homer's time.

{27} At all events, under David, offences became offences against the King, not merely against this or that kindred.

David introduced the "Judgment of the Country" or _Visnet del Pais_ for the settlement of pleas.

Every free man, in his degree, was "tried by his peers," but the old ordeal by fire and Trial by Combat or duel were not abolished.