The Frisians were divided into four legal classes, to whom the law, or those transgressions of it that incurred set fines, applied. They were the nobles, the freemen, the serfs and slaves. The clergy are not mentioned in the as they were not liable to civil law. The Frisians received the title of freemen and were allowed to choose their own , or imperial governor. In the three districts of
Frisia are clearly distinguished: the law governs all of Frisia, but West Frisia "between
Zwin and
Vlie" and East Frisia "between
Lauwers and
Weser" have certain stated exceptional provisions. At the partition treaty of Verdun (843) the whole of Frisia became part of
Lotharingia; at the
treaty of Meersen (870) it was briefly divided between the kingdoms of the
East Franks (
Austrasia) and the
West Franks (
Neustria), but in 880 the whole country was reunited under Austrasia. The first twenty-two chapters of the are entirely concerned with schedules of fines () and
wergeld, the compensations due victims or their kin, scheduled according to the social ranks of perpetrator and victim. Remarkably, the fine for killing a woman was exactly the same as for a man of the same rank, a feature of Frisian law that links it to
Anglo-Saxon law, and stands apart from all other German codes. A further eleven chapters contain the 'Additions of the Wise Men' (), ten subheadings from the judgements of
Wiemar and of
Saxmund of whom nothing is known, as well as sections from the ('Law Code of the
Thuringians') to cover instances not previously covered. A noble's defense was to gather a specified number of "
oath-helpers" willing to swear that the crime was not committed. The only
trial by ordeal mentioned – and mentioned twice – in the is the ordeal by boiling water. A stone had to be withdrawn from a seething cauldron: if the blisters were healed within three days, the man was innocent. ==Transmission==