The laws were issued by the king and his councillors. Cases were decided by the production of oaths which varied in value according to the rank of the swearer, or by the several forms of the ordeal. No distinction was made between civil and criminal law, and even homicide could be atoned for by payment of a sum varying according to the social status of the dead man. The object of the laws was to restrict private vengeance, to prevent and punish theft (primarily of cattle), to stop dishonest trading, to secure the persons and residences of the people, to enforce the mutual obligations of relatives, and masters and men, to provide adequate defence for the kingdom by means of garrisoned boroughs and a well-armed mounted infantry, to protect the helpless, and to safeguard the rights of the Church and its servants.
The early laws present considerable difficulty owing to their antiquity. The laws of Æthelberht are the earliest records in the English language, though, like many of the other laws, they are only preserved in a MS. of the twelfth century. The standard edition is Liebermann's _Gesetze der Angelsachsen_ (Halle, A. S. Max Niemeyer).--BIBLIOGRAPHY: Pollock and Maitland, _History of English Law_; H. M. Chadwick, _Studies in Anglo-Saxon Institutions_.
ANGO´LA, a Portuguese territory in Western Africa, south of the Congo, extending from the sea to Rhodesia, and from about lat. 6° S. to lat. 17° S. (area, 484,800 sq. miles; pop. 4,119,000). It is a country of varied features, and its resources, as yet hardly known, are probably very great. The province is rich in malachite, copper, iron, petroleum, and salt; rubber supplies are becoming exhausted. The Coanza (Kwanza) is the largest river. The capital is the seaport of Loanda; other ports are Benguella (or Benguela) and Mossamedes. Three railways now run inland from these places. It exports coffee, hides, gum, rubber, wax, &c.
ANGOLA PEA (_Caj[=a]nus indicus_). See _Pigeon Pea_.
ANGO´NILAND, a district of South Africa, lying to the west of the southern half of Lake Nyassa, and partly in British Central Africa, partly in Rhodesia. It is a plateau with an average height of 4000 feet, the name being derived from the Angoni, a race of mixed Zulu blood, who used to make murderous raids on their neighbours, and have given much trouble to the missionaries and others.