(For sanity sake, let's just assume that this is idealistic Humakti we're talking about here, & not some local variation or other)
> Yes, but if a Humakti cuts down my brother, surely I can get all my (other)
> brothers, cousins and friends etc, and go and find him and chop him up,
> death magics or no...
> ...there will be no-one (no family anyways) to avenge me.
Thing is, the Humakti actually has a greater legal right to kill than you do. You and he are NOT equal before the law, and you may often have no right whatsoever to demand wergild !
> So by extension, if the Humakti kills my brother, I could take him to court
How ? Drag him by the ear ? Good luck !!!
> and demand wergild to compensate for the loss to my family and to satisfy my
> honour so I don't have to get friends and kin involved in more bloodshed
> with a dangerous humakti and possibly his dangerous humakti friends. If the
> humakt refuses to come to terms in court,
No idealistic Humakti worth his salt would accept that there was anything wrong, dishonourable, or even illegal about your brother's death.
> I still have the option (as always) of using violence.
That's probably your _only_ option, if you're really hell-bent on getting some sort of compensation/revenge.
> I don't really see how this differs from normal heorting law...
The difference is that the Humakti will never compromise, will always demand trial by combat (provided he's accepting the jurisdiction of the court), and will defend his actions to the death _far_ more often than a normal Heortling. Normal heortling law expects a very different attitude from a defendant. What do you do if the Humakti declares himself legally dead, and therefore beyond the jurisdiction of mortal lawspeakers ?
A Humakti can usually place himself above the law (in matters of killing and wergild, anyway), because his precise legal position depends mainly on his personal Oaths, relationship with Humakt, degree of identification with Death, Severance status, and other individual factors that simply _cannot_ be compromised. Of course some Humakti _do_ place themselves within a normal legal framework (the Resheathing), but basically, as far as killing your brother is concerned, it's an Act of Humakt, not a crime.
I think Greg posted something about the general legality of killing people in Heortling law, quite recently ...
Julian Lord
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