Page "Alfred the Great" Paragraph 51

When one turns from the dombocs introduction to the laws themselves, it is difficult to uncover any logical arrangement.

The impression one receives is of a hodgepodge of miscellaneous laws.

The law code, as it has been preserved, is singularly unsuitable for use in lawsuits.

In fact, several of Alfred's laws contradict the laws of Ine that form an integral part of the code.

Patrick Wormald's explanation is that Alfred's law code should be understood not as a legal manual, but as an ideological manifesto of kingship, " designed more for symbolic impact than for practical direction.

" In practical terms, the most important law in the code may well be the very first: " We enjoin, what is most necessary, that each man keep carefully his oath and his pledge ," which expresses a fundamental tenet of Anglo-Saxon law.